No Country for Oldowan Men: Emerging Factors in Language Evolution

Front Psychol. 2019 Jun 19:10:1448. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01448. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Language evolution has long been researched. I will review a number of broad, emerging research directions which arguably have the potential to contribute to our understanding of language evolution. Emerging topics in genomics and neurolinguistics are explored, and human-specific levels of braincase globularity - and the broader process of self-domestication within which globularity seems capable of being encapsulated - will be argued to be the central pillars of any satisfactory and interdisciplinary model of language evolution.

Keywords: basicranial angle; birdsong; domestication syndrome; genetic drift; globularity; language evolution; molecular clock.

Publication types

  • Review