Is a ‘history and geography of human syntax’ meaningful?

We believe that one of the major breakthroughs in the study of human cultural variation has been the introduction of parametric theories in linguistics. Parameters too have been introduced as a result of progress in theoretical science, the development of grammatical theory in the framework of the modern cognitive sciences.Can parameters play a historical role analogous to that played by genetic markers? What can they tell us on the history (prehistory, and geographic distribution) of established or proposed language families and of the corresponding populations? More generally, can parameter theory help construe historical linguistics as a cognitive science and cognitive science as historical anthropology