Re: Is language development evolutionary, or designed by the culture?


"David Wright Sr." <dwrightsr@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9675D219128C8nokvamli@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "Neeraj Mathur" <neemathur@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:d8nsdn$hh8$1
> @news.ox.ac.uk:
>>
>> Phonological changes and syntactic changes are not molded by eolutionary
>> forces in a Darwinian sense (that the most useful variations sruvive - I
>> suppose that's what you meant), nor are they designed consciously by any
>> people.
>>
>>
> Wouldn't you think that both phonological and syntactical adaptations
> would
> occur in mixed language[1] environments and that what survived would be
> that which came easiest, (i.e. the most useful for both groups[2])?
>
>
> [1] Think about Viking invasions and settlements amongst the Angles and
> Saxon speaking people as well as the French influence from Normandy.
>
> [2] Of course, relative size of groups would play an important part, I
> would think, in which language would tend to dominate.

I have trouble seeing how this argument works, exactly - would you be able
to offer an example?

I'm not sure how it can be said that a certain sound 'comes easiest' - a
child growing up in a mixed language environment will hear and learn to
distinguish both sounds. Isn't it axiomatic that any linguistic feature in a
human language is by that very fact capable of existing in any human
language? Then theoretically a child growing up before his phonological
patterns are fixed to his own language will be able to adapt as necessary.

Anyway, even if there is some truth to what you say, it can explain at most
one small subset, rather than be the sole explanation, of phonological or
syntactic change. Take, for instance, the development of phonemic tones in
Panjabi - there is no way to ascribe that to any kind of design or
evolutionary selective forces. It is spontaneous; in fact, it is discouraged
by educated city dwellers, for whom Hindi and its phonology remain prestige.

Neeraj Mathur


.

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