Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2008 - Volume 31, Issue 05  

Open Peer Commentary

The potential for genetic adaptations to language

Mark Pagela1 and Quentin D. Atkinsona2

a1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AJ, United Kingdom m.pagel@reading.ac.uk www.evolution.rdg.ac.uk

a2 Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, United Kingdom. quentin.atkinson@anthro.ox.ac.uk http://users.ox.ac.uk/~soca0108/Quentins_website/Home.html

Abstract

We suggest there is somewhat more potential than Christiansen & Chater (C&C) allow for genetic adaptations specific to language. Our uniquely cooperative social system requires sophisticated language skills. Learning and performance of some culturally transmitted elements in animals is genetically based, and we give examples of features of human language that evolve slowly enough that genetic adaptations to them may arise.

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