language & culture

[s.t. bischoff]

Article of potential interest...
Language Driven By Culture, Not Biology, Study ShowsLanguage in humans has
evolved culturally rather than genetically, according to a study by UCL
(University College London) and US researchers. By modelling the ways in
which genes for language might have evolved alongside language itself, the
study showed that genetic adaptation to language would be highly unlikely,
as cultural conventions change much more rapidly than genes. Thus, the
biological machinery upon which human language is built appears to predate
the emergence of language.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090119210614.htm
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20090128/6c6b4abf/attachment.htm>