The evolution of syntactic communication

Martin A. Nowak (), Joshua B. Plotkin and Vincent A. A. Jansen
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Martin A. Nowak: Institute for Advanced Study
Joshua B. Plotkin: Institute for Advanced Study
Vincent A. A. Jansen: School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London

Nature, 2000, vol. 404, issue 6777, 495-498

Abstract: Abstract Animal communication is typically non-syntactic, which means that signals refer to whole situations1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Human language is syntactic, and signals consist of discrete components that have their own meaning8. Syntax is a prerequisite for taking advantage of combinatorics, that is, “making infinite use of finite means”9,10,11. The vast expressive power of human language would be impossible without syntax, and the transition from non-syntactic to syntactic communication was an essential step in the evolution of human language12,13,14,15,16. We aim to understand the evolutionary dynamics of this transition and to analyse how natural selection can guide it. Here we present a model for the population dynamics of language evolution, define the basic reproductive ratio of words and calculate the maximum size of a lexicon. Syntax allows larger repertoires and the possibility to formulate messages that have not been learned beforehand. Nevertheless, according to our model natural selection can only favour the emergence of syntax if the number of required signals exceeds a threshold value. This result might explain why only humans evolved syntactic communication and hence complex language.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35006635

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