Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Linguistics

An invisible hand

Nature volume 449, pages 665–667 (2007)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 31 October 2007

Quantitative relationships between how frequently a word is used and how rapidly it changes over time raise intriguing questions about the way individual behaviours determine large-scale linguistic and cultural change.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The glossogenetic tree of Indo-European language.

References

  1. Chomsky, N. Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use (Praeger, Westport, CT, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hurford, J. in Logical Issues in Language Acquisition (ed. Roca, I. M.) 85–136 (Foris, Dordrecht, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lieberman, E., Michel, J.–B., Jackson, J., Tang, T. & Nowak, M. A. Nature 449, 713–716 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Pagel, M., Atkinson, Q. D. & Meade, A. Nature 449, 717–720 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bybee, J. & Hopper, P. (eds) Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure (Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2001).

  6. Zipf, G. K. Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort (Addison-Wesley, Cambridge, MA, 1949).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Heine, B., Claudi, U. & Hünnemeyer, F. Grammaticalization: A Conceptual Framework (Univ. Chicago Press, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Keller, R. On Language Change: The Invisible Hand in Language (Routledge, New York, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. Culture and the Evolutionary Process (Univ. Chicago Press, 1985).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kalish, M. L., Griffiths, T. L. & Lewandowsky, S. Psychonom. Bull. Rev. 14, 288–294 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. McElreath, R. et al. Evol. Hum. Behav. 26, 483–508 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kirby, S., Dowman, M. & Griffiths, T. L. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 5241–5245 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Deacon, T. W. The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain (Norton, New York, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Dawkins, R. The Selfish Gene (Oxford Univ. Press, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Dennett, D. C. Darwin's Dangerous Idea (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Blackmore, S. J. The Meme Machine (Oxford Univ. Press, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Mesoudi, A., Whiten, A. & Laland, K. N. Evolution 58, 1–11 (2004).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. W. Tecumseh Fitch is in the School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, UK. wtsf@st-andrews.ac.uk ,

    W. Tecumseh Fitch

Authors
  1. W. Tecumseh Fitch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fitch, W. An invisible hand. Nature 449, 665–667 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/449665a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/449665a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing