Authors
Szabolcs Számadó, Eörs Szathmáry
Publication date
2006/10/1
Source
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Volume
21
Issue
10
Pages
555-561
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
The recent blossoming of evolutionary linguistics has resulted in a variety of theories that attempt to provide a selective scenario for the evolution of early language. However, their overabundance makes many researchers sceptical of such theorising. Here, we suggest that a more rigorous approach is needed towards their construction although, despite justified scepticism, there is no agreement as to the criteria that should be used to determine the validity of the various competing theories. We attempt to fill this gap by providing criteria upon which the various historical narratives can be judged. Although individually none of these criteria are highly constraining, taken together they could provide a useful evolutionary framework for thinking about the evolution of human language.
Total citations
Scholar articles
S Számadó, E Szathmáry - Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2006