Evolutionary Syntax
Abstract
In this book, Ljiljana Progovac proposes a gradualist, adaptationist approach to the evolution of syntax, subject to natural selection. She provides a specific framework for its study, combining the fields of evolutionary biology, theoretical syntax, typology, neuroscience, and genetics. The author pursues an internal reconstruction of the stages of grammar based on the syntactic theory associated with Chomskyan Minimalism and arrives at specific, testable hypotheses, which are then corroborated by an abundance of theoretically analysed 'living fossils' drawn from a variety of languages. Her approach demonstrates that these fossil structures do not just coexist alongside more modern structures, but are in fact built into the very foundation of more complex structures, leading to quirks and complexities that are suggestive of a gradualist evolutionary scenario. By reconstructing a particular path along which syntax evolved, Evolutionary Syntax sheds light on the crucial properties of language design itself, as well as on the major parameters of crosslinguistic variation. As a result, this reconstruction can be meaningfully correlated with both the hominin timeline and the ever-growing body of genetic evidence that is available.
Keywords
evolution of syntax/grammar, gradualist evolution, natural selection, theoretical syntax, Chomskyan Minimalism, internal reconstruction, crosslinguistic variation, genetics, (living) fossils, hominin timelineDOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736547.001.0001ISBN
9780198736547, 9780198736554, 9780191800276Publisher
Oxford University PressPublisher website
https://global.oup.com/Publication date and place
Oxford, 2015Grantor
Series
Oxford Studies in the Evolution of Language,Classification
Linguistics
Human biology
Psycholinguistics and cognitive linguistics
Grammar, syntax and morphology