On Language Evolution

Language Evolution for a long time has been considered as a topic that cannot betouched because of lack of empirical evidence. From the earliest Charisma languageevolution theory to Chomskyan language evolution theory, the linguists have made agreat contribution to this issue. However, until now there is still no perfect answer.Among all the existing theories, the “Universal Grammar”,“Recursion-onlyHypothesis” and “Gene Mutation Theory” of Chomsky’s have not only attracted greatattention in linguistic area, but also brought a climax to language evolution research.This thesis will give a detailed description and discussion on the languageevolution theories according to the clues of time. In this paper the following theoriesare discussed:(1) Charisma Theory, maintaining that language is from God;(2) Thechallenge about Charisma Theory both in linguistic area and philosophical area;(3)Darwin’s biological theory of evolution, stating that language evolves gradually;(4)Chomskyan language evolution theory, maintaining that language is innate andevolves from gene mutation and that the process of language evolution is a great leap;(5) Steven Pinker’s language evolution theory, insisting that language is innate, but itevolves gradually. Pinker not only accepts Chomskyan theory that language is innate,but also shows his support to Darwin’s biological theory of evolution;(6) The theoryof meme, arguing that the meme is the critical factor that leads to language evolution.In this paper, more focus will be put on Chomskyan language evolution theory,and at the same time a comparative study is made on Chomskyan and Pinker’slanguage evolution theories. There are similarities and differences between theirtheories. The main similarities are as follows:(1) Both of Chomskyan and Pinker’slanguage evolution theories argue that human language, the most accessible part ofhuman mind, is innate;(2) Language is one of the fruits of evolution. And the maindifferences are:(1) Chomsky believes that FLN is unique to human beings and FLBis shared with other species while Pinker holds the idea that FLN is mostly shared; (2) Chomsky holds the idea that language evolution is because of gene mutation justlike “a great leap” while Pinker accepts Darwin’s evolution idea believing thatlanguage evolution is a gradual process during millions of years just as the same asthe evolution of species is in the world. From “Universal Grammar” to “GeneMutation Theory”, Chomskyan language theories become more and more mature.This paper will also study the rationality of Chomskyan language evolution theory.However, Chomskyan language evolution theory is not perfect, the author arguesChomskyan language evolution theory insisting that language evolution is from genemutation does not take such factors as environment and cognitive factors intoconsideration. Some suggestions are put forward for the future study on languageevolution:(1) More experiments and researches should be done to get supportingevidence about the relationship between genetic elements and language evolution. Inorder to achieve this goal, linguists, biologists and medical scientists should worktogether;(2) The factors such as environment and cognitive factors should beconsidered to search for more scientific and widely-accepted evidence about languageevolution.