Evolution of language
What good is language?
- Communication
- Thought
- "Grooming"
- Learning and differences
- Speaking and hearing
- Structure: grammar
- Structure: phonology
- Speech acts: reference, assertion, request, etc.
- "Obligatory" morphology
- Arbitrariness
How could language have evolved?
How could a relatively small difference in behavior (resulting from genetic or cultural variation) lead to reproductive advantage for the population with the language-like behavior?