RECENT THEORIES ON THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE

Ljudje nismo edini, ki komuniciramo. Ravno nasprotno, vsa živa bitja imajo razvit nek način komuniciranja. Vendar pa je človeški jezik v primerjavi z ostalimi komunikacijskimi sistemi veliko bolj kompleksen in edinstven. Ljudje smo sposobni iz omejenega števila glasov ustvariti neomejeno število izrazov. Človeška komunikacija v nasprotju z živalsko, instinktivna, nastaja zavestno in je nepredvidljiva. Zato lahko trdimo, da je človek edina vrsta, ki pozna jezik. Obstaja veliko teorij, zakaj so ljudje začeli govoriti, saj igra jezik pomembno vlogo na različnih področjih družbenega življenja. Pojava jezika je človeški vrsti prinesla mnogo prednosti. Bolje so lahko koordinirali lov in nabiranje hrane, različne generacije so si preko jezika izmenjavale pomembne informacije, boljši govorci so imeli boljše možnosti za razmnoževanje in s tem več potomcev. Nekateri avtorji primerjajo človeški govor s fenomenom socialnega negovanja, ki ga je moč najti pri primatih. Oboje služi ohranjanju prijateljstva in širjenju socialne mreže. Težko je ugotoviti, kako je jezik nastal. Darwin je predvideval, da je jezik preddispozicija v možganih, podobno, kot so instinkti pri živalih, ki pridejo do izraza, kadar se pojavi stimulacija iz okolja. Pinker in Bloom sta trdila, da se je jezik razvil z naravno selekcijo. Nekateri nevrološki procesi, ki so pomembni za razvoj jezika, so se lahko razvili iz struktur, ki jih je moč najti tudi pri primatih. Vendar pa je zelo verjetno, da se deli jezika niso razvili s selekcijo, temveč z eksaptacijo kognitivnih struktur pomembnih za lov, nabiralništvo, izdelavo orodja itd., torej kot stranski produkt nekih drugih kognitivnih struktur. Če proučimo različne sodobne teorije o nastanku jezika, lahko trdimo, da odgovor na vprašanje, kako je le ta nastal, leži nekje med selekcionističnim in eksaptacijskim pogledom.When dealing with the evolution of language one comes across some intriguing questions, and the answers seem to be very hard to state. There is no consensus of what language actually is. It serves various social purposes, such as learning and social contacts. Thus it is very important phenomenon in human society. Language is constantly changing and sometimes these changes are very sudden. Therefore it is difficult (if not nearly impossible) to trace back its evolution. However this was the topic of my research, even though it is still impracticable to confirm the exact timing of its emergence. As mentioned in one of the previous chapters, communication is not unique to humans. In contrary, in nature we find numerous kinds of communication systems. Every animal species on the planet possesses some way of communication. But human language is much more complex than communication of any other animal species. Humans can form unlimited number of utterances out of limited number of sounds. This seems to be matchless to any other way of communication in nature. Another important fact is, that animals are believed to react instinctively, and therefore predictably, but most human behaviour (including language) is under the voluntary control. Human language is creative and unpredictable. So it is assumed that only humans posses language. There are many different scenarios why humans started to speak. It is clear that human language plays a major part in different aspects of our lives. Emergence of language has brought notable advantage to our species. Our ancestors were able to coordinate hunting and food gathering better. Through language, generations exchanged valuable information and knowledge. Better speakers had better chance to mate, and therefore had more offspring. In addition, communication is according to some authors, comparable to social grooming phenomenon, which is found in chimpanzees, humans use language the same way that chimpanzees use grooming. Chimpanzees groom each other to preserve friendships. People spend vast amount of time communicating with others for social reasons. But where did our language came from? Darwin assumed, that language is prewired in human brains, similarly to animal instincts, which respond to certain stimuli from the environment. Some authors including Pinker and Bloom developed a theory compatible with the Darwinian theory of natural selection. Recent researches have proved evidence that some aspects of language may have evolved by natural selection. However, certain neurological processes which are important for developing of language may be derived from structures that are present also in non-human primates. Consequently, parts of language were exapted from cognitive structures that our ancestors used for hunting, food gathering, tool making, learning and various other activities. According to these recent theories, the answer how language evolved, lies somewhere in between of selectionists` view, which sees language purely as the result of natural selection and exaptationists` view, which sees language as a by-product of some other cognitive capacities