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2 - From the Protolanguage Spectrum to the Underlying Bases of Language

from Part I - The Evolution of Syntax

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2025

By
Michael A. Arbib
Edited by
Dany Adone  and
Astrid Gabel
Dany Adone
Affiliation:
Universität zu Köln
Astrid Gabel
Affiliation:
Universität zu Köln
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Summary

Arbib’s chapter places the old debate over whether the protowords of protolanguage may often be holophrases or are more akin to words of current languages within the context of Bickerton’s changing views on the emergence of languages from protolanguages. He traces Bickerton’s ideas from the Universal Grammar with a default parameters approach of the Language Bioprogram Hypothesis via the “just add Merge” account of Adam’s Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How Language Made Humans to the replacement of Universal Grammar by a notion of Universal Bases of Language in More than Nature Needs: Language, Mind, and Evolution. As a counterpoise, Arbib considers the Mirror System Hypothesis of the evolution of the language-ready brain in which, starting from protowords, words and constructions akin to those of modern languages emerged via cultural evolution with fractionation of holophrases playing a crucial (but not the only) initial role.

Keywords

protolanguagesMirror System Hypothesisholophrases vs. compositionalitybiocultural evolutionUniversal Bases of language
Type
Chapter
Information
The Evolution, Acquisition and Development of Syntax
Insights from Creole Languages and Beyond
 , pp. 11 - 33
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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