Position Paper
Grammar change
A case of Darwinian cognitive evolution
Structurally, cognitive and biological evolution are highly similar. Random variation and constant but blind
selection drive evolution within biology as well as within cognition. However, evolution of cognitive programs, and in particular
of grammar systems, is not a subclass of biological evolution but a domain of its own. The abstract evolutionary principles,
however, are akin in cognitive and biological evolution. In other words, insights gained in the biological domain can be
cautiously applied to the cognitive domain. This paper claims that the cognitively encapsulated, i.e. consciously inaccessible,
aspects of grammars as cognitively represented systems, that is, the procedural and structural parts of grammars, are subject to,
and results of, Darwinian evolution, applying to a domain-specific cognitive program. Other, consciously accessible aspects of
language do not fall under Darwinian evolutionary principles, but are mostly instances of social changes.
Article outline
- 1.Evolution: From metaphor to materiality
- 1.1Grammar as a cognitive-virus program
- 1.2Evolution: Disambiguating a transposed concept
- 1.2.1Evolution as metaphor
- 1.2.2Lamarckian vs. Darwinian evolution
- 1.2.3Generalized darwinism
- 2.Mechanisms of evolution in biology
- 2.1Darwinian evolution by natural selection
- 2.2Flow and drift
- 3.Elements of a (Neo-)Darwinian, cognition-based evolution of grammar
- 3.1Grammars as cognitive systems are susceptible to variation and selection
- 3.2Darwinian cognitive evolution operates on processes and structures, not on content
- 3.3Naturally selected vs. drifting
- 4.Natural selection or social change, or both
- 5.Consequences
- Speciation
- Adaptive landscape
- Convergent evolution
- Untriggered changes
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References (120)
References
Avgustinova, T. (1997). Word order and clitics in Bulgarian. PhD Thesis. Saarbrücken: Universität des Saarlandes.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Becker, K. F. (1845). Schulgrammatik des Deutschen. Frankfurt: Verlag von G.F. Kettembeil.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brenowitz E. A. (2008). Plasticity of the song control system in adult birds. In Ph. H. Zeigler & P. Marler (eds). Neuroscience of birdsong. 332-349. Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bell, G. & Gonzalez, A. (2011). Adaptation and evolutionary rescue in metapopulations experiencing environmental deterioration. Science, 332 (6035), 1327–1329. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Biberauer, Th. & Walkden, G. (2015). Introduction: Changing views of syntactic change. In Th. Biberauer & G. Walkden (Eds.), Syntax over time. Lexical, morphological, and information-structural interactions (pp. 1–13). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bierwisch, M. (2012). The Concept of Evolution in Linguistics. In A. Fasolo (Ed.), The Theory of Evolution and Its Impact (pp. 103–117). Milano: Springer. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Breslin, D. (2010). Generalising Darwinism to study socio-cultural change. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 30(7–8), 427–439. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bridges, K. & Hoff, E. (2014). Older sibling influences on the language environment and language development of toddlers in bilingual homes. Applied Psycholinguistics, 35(2), 225–241. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brinckmann, C. & Bubenhofer, N. (2012). Sagen kann man’s schon, nur schreiben tut man’s selten” – Die tun-Periphrase. In M. Konopka & R. Schneider, Grammatische Stolpersteine digital – Festschrift für Bruno Strecker zum 65. Geburtstag. Mannheim: Institut für deutsche Sprache. [URL]
Cable, S. (2008). Configurationality and the Salish language. Theoretical perspectives on languages of the Pacific Northwest. Lecture notes. U. Mass at Amherst. [URL: [URL]]
Christiansen, M. & Chater, N. (2016). The Now-or-Never bottleneck: A fundamental constraint on language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, E62. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chomsky, N. (2011). Language and other cognitive systems. What is special about language? Language Learning and Development, 7(4), 263–278. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Comrie, B. & Kuteva, T. (2005). The evolution of grammatical structures and ‘functional need’ explanations. In M. Tallerman (Ed.) Language origins: perspective on evolution (pp. 185–207). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cornips, L. (1998). Habitual doen in Heerlen Dutch. In J. A. van Leuvensteijn, I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade, M. van der Wal (Eds.), DO in English, Dutch and German – history and present-day variation (pp. 83–101). Amsterdam: Stichting Nederlandistiek/Nodus Publikationen.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Boer, B., Thompson, B., Ravignani, A. & Boeckx, C. (2020). Evolutionary dynamics do not motivate a single-mutant theory of human language. Nature Science Reports, 10, 451. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Darwin, Ch. (1872). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray (6th edition).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dehé, N. (2004). On the order of objects in Icelandic double object constructions. UCL Working Papers in Linguistics, 161, 85–108.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, R. (1997). The rise and fall of languages. Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dunn, M. (2014). Gender determined dialect variation. In: Corbett, G. G. (Ed.) The expression of gender (pp. 39–67). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ellegård, A. (1953). The auxiliary Do: The establishment and regulation of its use in English. (Gothenburg Studies in English, vol. 2). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eldredge, N. & Gould, St. J. (1972). Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. In: Schopf, T. J. M. (Ed.) Models in Paleobiology (pp. 82–115). San Francisco: Freeman Cooper.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Feder, A. F., Kryazhimskiy, S. & Plotkin, J. B. (2014). Identifying signatures of selection in genetic time series. Genetics, 196(2), 509–522. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fisher, R. A. (1930). The genetical theory of natural selection. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Foote, A. &, Liu, Y. T. & Gregg, W. (2015). Convergent evolution of the genomes of marine mammals. Nature Genetics, 47(3), 272–275. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gould, St. J. (2002): The structure of evolutionary theory. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gazsi, D. (2011). Arabic-Persian Language Contact. In: Weninger, St. (Ed.) The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. (pp. 1015–1021). Berlin: De Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gibson, E., Futrell, R., Piandadosi, St. T., Dautriche, I., Mahowald, K., Bergen, L. & Levy, R. (2019). How efficiency shapes human language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(5), 389–407. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gell-Mann, M. & Ruhlen, M. (2011). The origin and evolution of word order. PNAS, 108(42), 17290–17295. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldin-Meadow, S., So, W. C., Özyürek, A., & Mylander, C. (2008). The natural order of events: How speakers of different languages represent events nonverbally. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1051, 9163–9168. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goulding, J. (2020). Virus replication. British Society for Immunology. [URL] [March 15, 2020].
Gray, T. J., Reagan, A. J., Dodds, P. S. & Danforth, C. M. (2018). English verb regularization in books and tweets. PLoS ONE, 13(12), e0209651. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Greenhill, S. J., Wu, C-H., Hua, X., Dunn, M., Levinson, St. C. & Gray, R. D. (2017). Evolutionary dynamics of language systems. PNAS, 114(42), E8822–E8829. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (1991). Die menschliche Sprachfähigkeit – exaptiv und kognitiv opak. Kognitionswissenschaft, 21, 11–26.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (1999). On the survival of the fittest grammar (theory). Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 181, 216–218. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2013): Symmetry breaking in Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2014). The VO-OV split of Germanic languages – a T3 & V2 production. Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis, 19(1), 57–79.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2015a). “Intelligent design” of grammars – a result of cognitive evolution. In: A. Adli, M. García García & G. Kaufmann (Eds.), Variation in language: System- and usage-based approaches (pp. 205–240). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2015b). Head directionality – in syntax and morphology. In: A. Fábregas, J. Mateu & M. Putnam (Eds.), Contemporary linguistic parameters (pp. 73–97). London: Bloomsbury Academic.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2019a). An anthropic principle in lieu of a “Universal Grammar”. In: J. M. Brown, A. Schmidt & M. Wierzba (Eds.), Of trees and birds (pp. 363–381). Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2019b). On absent, expletive, and non-referential subjects. In: P. Herbeck, B. Pöll, & A. C. Wolfsgruber (Eds.), Semantic and syntactic aspects of impersonality (pp. 11–46). Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. (2021). “OVS” – A misnomer for SVO languages with ergative alignment. lingbuzz/005680.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haider, H. & Szusich, L. (2019). Slavic languages – “SVO” languages without SVO qualities? (in press). Theoretical Linguistics, 471. (lingbuzz/004973).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haig, D. (2007). Weismann Rules! OK? Epigenetics and the Lamarckian temptation. Biology and Philosophy, 221, 415–428. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hanke, D. (2004). Teleology: the explanation that bedevils biology. In: Cornwell, J. (Ed.), Explanations: Styles of explanation in science (pp. 143–155). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haspelmath, M. (1999). Optimality and diachronic adaptation. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 181, 180–205. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hawkins, J. A. (1994). A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency. Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heath, J. (1984). Language contact and language change. Annual Review of Anthropology, 131, 367–384. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews, Inc. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hodgson, G. M. (2013). Understanding organizational evolution: Toward a research agenda using Generalized Darwinism. Organization Studies, 34(7), 973–992. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hodgson, G. M. (2011). Organizational Adaptation and Evolution: Darwinism versus Lamarckism? In: A. Grandori (Ed.), The Elgar Handbook of economic organization (pp. 157–171). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hodgson, G. M. & Knudsen, Th. (2006). Why we need a generalized Darwinism and why a generalized Darwinism is not enough. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 611, 1–19. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hodgson, G. M. & Knudsen, Th. (2008). In search of general evolutionary principles: Why Darwinism is too important to be left to the biologists. Journal of Bioeconomics, 101, 51–69. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hull, D. L. (1988). Interactors versus vehicles. In: H. C. Plotkin (Ed.) The role of behavior in evolution (pp. 19–50). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jäger, A. (2006). Typology of Periphrastic ‘do’-constructions. Bochum: Universitätsverlag Brock-meyer.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jelinek, E. & Demers, R. (1994). Predicates and pronominal arguments in Straits Salish. Language, 701, 697–736. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jenkin, F. (1867). The origin of species. North British Review, 461, 277–318.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jespersen, O. (1894). Progress in language. New York: McMillan & Co.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Joseph, B. (2001). Review of R. M. W. Dixon, The rise and fall of languages. Journal of Linguistics, 371, 180–6.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kant, I. (1790). Kritik der Urteilskraft. Berlin & Libau: Lagarde & Friedrich.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Karjus, A., Blythe, R. A., Kirby, S. & Smith, K. (2020). Challenges in detecting evolutionary forces in language change using diachronic corpora. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 5(1), 45. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kiparsky, P. (2008). Universals constrain change; change results in typological generalizations. In: Good, J. (Ed.) Linguistic universals and language change (pp. 23–53). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Koonin, E. V. (2011). The logic of chance: The nature and origin of biological evolution. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: FT Press Science.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Koplenig, A., Meyer, P., Wolfer, S. & Müller-Spitzer, C. (2017). The statistical trade-off between word order and word structure – Large-scale evidence for the principle of least effort. PLOS ONE 12(3): e0173614. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lamarck de Monet de, J.-B. P. A. (1809). Philosophie zoologique, ou, exposition des considérations relative à l’histoire naturelle des animaux. Paris: F. Savy.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lasnik, H. &, Sobin, N. (2000). The who/whom puzzle: On the preservation of an archaic feature. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 181, 343–371. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, N. (2004). The neurobiology of procedural memory. In: J. H. Schumann, S. E. Crowell, N. E. Jones, N. Lee, Sara A. Schuchert, and L. A. Wood (Eds.), The neurobiology of learning: Perspectives from second language acquisition (pp. 43–73). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lenormand, Th. (2002). Gene flow and the limits to natural selection. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 17(4), 183–189. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levit, G. S. & Hossfeld, U. & Witt, U. (2011). Can Darwinism be “generalized” and of what use would this be? Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 211, Art. 545. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levy, R. (2008). Expectation-based syntactic comprehension. Cognition, 106(3), 1126–1177. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Loison, L. (2018). Lamarckism and epigenetic inheritance: a clarification. Biology & Philosophy, 33(3–4), Art. 29. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Loewe, L. & Hill, W. G. (2010). The population genetics of mutations: good, bad and indifferent. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B 3651, 1153–1167. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Loewe, L. (2008). Negative selection. Nature Education, 1(1), 59.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
LI, C. (1967). Fundamental theorem of natural selection. Nature, 2141, 505–506. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
MacKenzie, I. (2013). Participle-object agreement in French and the theory of grammatical viruses. Journal of Romance Studies, 131,19-33. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Masel, J. (2011). Genetic drift. Current Biology, 21(20), PR837–R838. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mayr, E. (1991). One long argument. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mayr, E. (1992). The idea of teleology. Journal of the history of ideas, 53(1), 117–135. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Merkle, L. (1975). Bairische Grammatik. München: Hugendubel.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morgan-Short, K. & Ullman, M. T. (2011). The neuro-cognition of second language. In: S. M. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 282–299). New York: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morris, S. (1994). Fleeming Jenkin and the origin of species: A reassessment. The British Journal for the History of Science, 27(3), 313–343. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nelson, R. R. (2007). Universal Darwinism and evolutionary social science. Biology and Philosophy, 221, 73–94. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nesensohn, E.-M. (2012). Die Tun-Periphrase in der Kindersprache. Diploma Thesis Univ. Vienna. [URL]
Nettle, D. (1999). Linguistic diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Newberry, M. G., Ahern, Ch. A., Clark, R. & Plotkin, J. B. (2017). Detecting evolutionary forces in language change. Nature, 551(7679), 223–226. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nichols, J. (1992). Linguistic diversity in space and time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Orr, H. A. (2009). Fitness and its role in evolutionary genetics. Nature Reviews Genetics, 101, 531–539. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Oshima-Takane, Y., Goodz, E. & Derevensky, J. L. (1996). Birth order effects on early language development: Do second born children learn from overheard speech? Child Development, 67(2), 621–634. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Peters, P. (2004). The Cambridge guide to English usage. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pinker, St. & Bloom, P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 131, 707–784. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reesink, G., Singer, R. & Dunn, M. (2009). Explaining the linguistic diversity of Sahul using population models. PLoS Biololgy, 7(11), e1000241. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rispoli, M., Hadley, P. & Holt, J. (2012). Sequence and system in the acquisition of tense and agreement. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 551, 1007–1021. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roossinck, M. J. (2011). The good viruses: viral mutualistic symbioses. Nature Review of Microbiology, 91, 99–108. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roossinck, M. J. & Bazán, E. R. (2017). Symbiosis: viruses as intimate partners. Annual Review of Virology, 4(1), 123–139. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rubio, L., Guerri, J. & Moreno, P. (2013). Genetic variability and evolutionary dynamics of viruses of the family Closteroviridae. Frontiers in Microbiology, 4:151. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sapir, E. (1921). Language an Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schleicher, A. (1873). Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft. Weimar: H. Böhlau.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schoenemann, P. Th. (2012). Evolution of brain and language. In: M. A. Hofman & D. Falk (Eds.), Progress in Brain Research 1951 (pp. 443–459). Amsterdam: Elsevier.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schütze, C. (1999). English expletive constructions are not infected. Linguistic Inquiry, 30(3), 467–484. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Siewierska, A. (1996). Word order type and alignment type. STUF – Language Typology and Universals, 49(2), 149–176. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Siewierska, A. & Uhliřová, L. (2010). An overview of word order in Slavic languages. In: Siewierska, A. (Ed.) Constituent order in the languages of Europe (pp. 105–150). Berlin: Mouton DeGruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Simon, H. (1996). The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Skipper, R. A. Jr. & Dietrich, M. R. (2012). Sewall Wright’s adaptive landscape: philosophical reflections on heuristic value. In: E. Svensson & R. Calsbeek (Eds.), The adaptive landscape in evolutionary biology (pp. 17–25). Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sobin, N. (1997). Agreement, default rules, and grammatical viruses. Linguistic Inquiry, 28(2), 318–343.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Solan, Z., Ruppin, E., Horn, D. & Edelman, S. (2005). Evolution of language diversity: why fitness counts. In: M. Tallerman (Ed.), Language origins: perspective on evolution (pp. 357–371). Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Spielman, St. J., Weaver, St., Shank, St. D., Magalis, B. R., Li, M. & Kosakovsky Pond, S. L. (2019). Evolution of viral genomes: Interplay between selection, recombination, and other forces. In: M. Anisimova (Ed.) Evolutionary Genomics: Statistical and Computational Methods (pp. 427–468). New York: Humana. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Spocter M.A., Hopkins, W.D, Garrison, A.R, Bauernfeind, A.L., Stimpson, C.D., Hof, P.R. & Sherwood C.C. (2010). Wernicke’s area homologue in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and its relation to the appearance of modern human language. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 277 (1691), 2165-2174. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stringer, Ch. & Galway-Witham, J. (2017). On the origin of our species. Nature, 5461, 212–214. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stromswold, K. (1990). Learnability and the acquisition of auxiliaries. PhD Thesis. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sundquist, J. D. (2012). Negative movement in the history of Norwegian: the evolution of a grammatical virus. In: D. Jonas & J. Whitman (Eds.), Grammatical change: origins, nature, outcomes (pp. 293–312). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Szyf, M. (2014). Lamarck revisited: epigenetic inheritance of ancestral odor fear conditioning. Nature Neuroscience, 171, 2–4. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Theißen, G. (2009). Saltational evolution: hopeful monsters are here to stay. Theory in Biosciences, 1281, 43–51.) ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thomason, S. G. & Kaufman, T. (1988). Language contact, creolization and genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ullman, M. T. (2001). A neurocognitive perspective on language: The declarative/procedural model. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 21, 717–726. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vermeer, A. (2001). Breadth and depth of vocabulary in relation to L1/L2 acquisition and frequency of input. Applied Psycholinguistics, 221, 217–234. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Voss, P., Thomas, M. E., Cisneros-Franco, J. M. & de Villers-Sidani, É. (2017). Dynamic brains and the changing rules of neuroplasticity: Implications for learning and recovery. Frontiers in Psychology, 81, 1657. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wahlström, M. (2015). Loss of case inflection in Bulgarian and Macedonian. Doctoral Diss. Helsinki: University of Helsinki, Department of Modern Languages.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Winford, D. (2003). An Introduction to Contact Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Witt, U. (2006). Evolutionary concepts in economics and biology. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 16(5), 473–476. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wright, S. (1932). The roles of mutation, inbreeding, crossbreeding and selection in evolution. Proceedings of the 6th Int. Congress on Genetics 11, 356–366.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Abraham, Werner, Andrzej Kątny & Piotr Bartelik
2022.
Kashubian – its Middle Low German heritage as partial superstrate.
Glottotheory 13:1
► pp. 45 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Haider, Hubert & Luka Szucsich
2022.
Slavic languages are Type 3 languages: replies.
Theoretical Linguistics 48:1-2
► pp. 113 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Ladoukakis, Emmanuel D., Dimitris Michelioudakis & Elena Anagnostopoulou
2022.
Toward an evolutionary framework for language variation and change.
BioEssays 44:3
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.