Theme Session
Evolinguistics: Where Cognitive Linguistics and Generative Grammar Meet
Organizer: Koji Fujita (Kyoto University)
This theme session features seven talks on Evolinguistics as an interdisciplinary, cross-theoretical
approach to language evolution. We assume that language arose from multiple domain-general
cognitive functions which may have evolved in humans and other species alike. Given this viewpoint,studies of the evolution of human language necessitates collaborations between different linguistic
frameworks. For example, although Generative Grammar (GG) and Cognitive Linguistics (CL) started
with contrasting, often conflicting understandings of the nature of human language and human mind,
we believe that it is necessary to bring their advantages together to discuss the evolution of language.
This session focuses on two fundamental aspects of human language: form (syntax) andfunction (communication). Hierarchical syntax is a distinctive feature of modern human language,
while its evolution and maintenance may be shaped by demands of human triadic communication via
linguistic symbols. GG currently claims that uniquely human hierarchical compositional syntax can bereduced to the basic combinatorial operation “merge.” As will be proposed in this session, thisoperation is very likely to be rooted in the sensori-motor system (”action grammar,” i.e. combinational
strategies observable in manipulation of physical objects) or in the conceptual-intentional system(”interrelational categorization,” i.e. grouping of distinct objects into a set based on their sharedproperties). Either way, the evolution of merge can be understood in a way which is fully compatible
with some basic ideas of CL, including embodiment, grouping, etc. We will show that constructing
complex linguistic structures essentially presupposes domain-general cognitive processes such asintegration, categorization, pattern abstraction and so forth.
In addition to this formal aspect, communicative motivation for language evolution cannot bedismissed. Conveying and understanding what a linguistic symbol refers to can be successful onlywith joint attention and shared intentionality between the speaker and the hearer, as proposed byTomasello. Such social aspects are significant in linguistic activities using highly developed systems ofsymbols. We will also argue that human capacity of sharing attention and intention is relevant to theformation of complex syntactic structures.
From this broad perspective, we will discuss some current topics of Evolinguistics: language
processing (Chang), motor action and syntax (K. Fujita), internalization and externalization (H. Fujita),
symbolic communication (Hashimoto), categorization and recursion (Hoshi), image schemas(Taniguchi) and joint attention (Uno). We pay special attention to the possible evolutionary link
between communicative functions and syntax to stress the collaborative status of CL and GG in
Evolinguistics.
Hopefully, we will offer an opportunity for all participants to learn the latest research and findingsof CL, GG, and beyond, and consider how these different perspectives can be linked and unified toexplore human language evolution.
Speakers & Titles (in the order of presentation):
1. Koji Fujita / Kyoto University
Syntax, Cooperation and Self-Domestication
2. Koji Hoshi / Keio University
A Possible Link between Cognitive Linguistics and the Lennebergian View on Biological Evolutionof Language
3. Kazumi Taniguchi / Kyoto UniversityOn the Emergence of Grammar and Image Schemas: A Cognitive Linguistic View
4. Haruka Fujita / Kyoto University
On the Co-evolution of Internalization and Externalization in Human Language
5. Franklin Chang / Kobe City University of Foreign Studies
Using the P-Chain to Understand the Evolution of Language
6. Ryoko Uno / Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Shared Intentionality and the Emergence of Sentence Types in Natural and Artificial Languages
7. Takashi Hashimoto / Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Filling a Gap between Pre-linguistic and Linguistic Pragmatics: An Experimental Semiotic Approachto the Formation of Symbolic Communication Systems with Intention Sharing
This theme session is supported by MEXT Grant-in-Aidfor Scientific Research on Innovative Areas #4903:
Evolinguistics: Integrative Studies of Language Evolution
for Co-Creative Communication