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Evolution of language is the gradual change in human language over time. It involves the origin and divergence of languages and language families, and can be considered analogous to biological evolution, although it does not necessarily occur through the same mechanisms.
A detailed analysis of male song structure in zebra finches shows how females use particular features of songs as indicators of male quality in species that learn only one song.
Reconstructing language dispersal patterns is important for understanding cultural spread and demic diffusion. Here, the authors use a computational approach based on velocity field estimation to infer the dispersal patterns of Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Bantu, and Arawak language families.
Language is a fundamental human characteristic. Its origins and development can inform our understanding of human ecology and evolution, and evolutionary biology methods can be fruitfully applied to linguistics in turn.
It has long been assumed that grammar is a system of abstract rules, that the world's languages follow universal patterns, and that we are born with a ‘language instinct’. But an alternative paradigm that focuses on how we learn and use language is emerging, overturning these assumptions and many more.
