WHAT DO LINGUISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE

EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE?

Bernard Comrie

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and University of California, Santa Barbara

comrie@eva.mpg.de

A. Comparative method

1. Imperfect tense of ‘to bear, carry’ in Indo-European Sanskrit Anc. Greek Common ancestor SG 1 a-bhar-a-m e-pher-o-n *e-bher-o-m 2 a-bhar-a-ḥ e-pher-e-s *e-bher-e-s 3 a-bhar-a-t e-pher-e *e-bher-e-t DU 2 a-bhar-a-tam e-pher-e-ton *e-bher-e-tom 3 a-bhar-a-tām e-pher-e-tēn *e-bher-e-tām PL 2 a-bhar-a-ta e-pher-e-te *e-bher-e-te 3 a-bhar-a-n e-pher-o-n *e-bher-o-n Structure: Augment (*e-) – Root – Theme (e/o) – Person/Number

Regular sound changes Ancient Greek bh > ph m > n word-finally t > Ø word-finally ā > ē after a consonant (other than r) Sanskrit e, o > a s > ḥ word-finally

2. Reconstructed consonant system of Proto-Indo-European Stops p b bʰ t d dʰ kʸ gʸ gʸʰ k g gʰ kʷ gʷ gʷʰ Fricatives s h₁ [h] h₂ [χ] h₃ [ɣʷ] Liquids l r Nasals m n Semivowels w y

B. Explaining complexity How complex structures could have evolved from simpler structures on the basis of parallels with attested changes including plausible variations on these Uniformitarian hypothesis

Structural complexity Does not exclude the possibility of simplification, which is also a historically observable kind of change

Assume a species (homo sapiens sapiens) that is biologically adapted to linguistic complexity (“language-ready”) but has not yet put into practice substantial parts of this complexity

C. Phonetic complexity 3. Simple vowel system

i u

a

i u a

high high front back unrounded rounded

low

unrounded

4. i u

e <a → i> o <a → u>

a

high

mid

low

5. Latin aurum ‘gold’ Spanish oro

6. “Umlauted” (front rounded) vowels ü IPA [y] <u → i> ö IPA [ø] <o → i> front rounded

7. Old High German jung [jʊŋɡ] ‘young’ jungiro [jʊŋɡɪrɔ] ‘younger (COMPARATIVE)’ Modern German jung [jʊŋ] jünger [jʏŋər]

8. Back unrounded vowels ɯ <i → u> ɤ <e → o> back unrounded

9. Voicing in obstruents and sonorants labial dental velar p t k voiceless stop s voiceless fricative m n voiced nasal l voiced liquid

labial dental velar p t k voiceless obstruent s m n voiced sonorant l

Voiced obstruents b <p → voiced>

Latin sapere ‘to know’ Brazilian Portuguese saber [sa'bex] voiced stop

Voiceless sonorants ɬ <l → voiceless>

Welsh

llan [ɬan] ‘church’ (especially in place names)

10. Other unusual consonants Pharyngeals [ħ] unusual place of articulation Labial-velars [k͡p] co-articulation Clicks [ʘ] non-pulmonic, ingressive

11. Dispersion i u i u i u e o e o ɛ ɔ a a a

D. Internal reconstruction

12. Old High German jung [jʊŋɡ] ‘young’ jungiro [jʊŋɡɪrɔ] ‘younger’ Intermediate jung [jʊŋɡ] jungiro [jʏŋɡɪrɔ] [ʊ] and [ʏ] are allophones Modern German jung [jʊŋ] jünger [jʏŋər] [ʊ] and [ʏ] are phonemes

Morphophonological alternations, i.e. different forms of the same morpheme in different environments ([jʊŋ] ~ [jʏŋ] + [ər]), which introduce complexity, often arise historically from regularly conditioned sound changes (e.g. vowels are fronted before [i]-like vowels) followed by loss of the conditioning environment (e.g. unstressed [ɪ] is weakened to [ə])

“Internal reconstruction” reverse-engineers this, postulating for morphophonological alternations an earlier stage with a regular phonetic environment

Evolving complexity Stage I no morphophonological alternations Stage II morphophonological alternations

E. Complex morphology

13. Latin ‘master’ ‘table’ SG PL SG PL NOM dominus dominī mēnsa mēnsae VOC domine dominī mēnsa mēnsae ACC dominum dominōs mēnsam mēnsās GEN dominī dominōrum mēnsae mēnsārum DAT dominō dominīs mēnsae mēnsīs ABL dominō dominīs mēnsā mēnsīs

14. ‘boy’ ‘with [the] boy’ Finnish (standard) poika pojan kanssa (poja-n ‘boy-GENITIVE’) Finnish (dialectal) poika pojankā (isä ‘father’ isänkǟ) (Vowel harmony) Estonian poeg pojaga (poja-ga ‘boy-COMITATIVE’)

15. Origin of personal suffixes in Buryat a) minii axa I.GEN younger_brother b) minii axa-mni I.GEN younger_brother-1SG c) axa-mni younger_brother-1SG

d) bi mede-ne-b I know-PRS-1SG e) mede-ne-b know-PRS-1SG f) *bi mede-ne

Pronoun (NOM) Verb suffix (SBJ) 1SG bi -b 2SG ši -š 1PL bide -bdi 2PL ta -t

Pronoun (GEN) Noun suffix (POSS) 1SG minii -(m)ni 2SG šinii -š(ni) 1PL manai -(m)nai 2PL tanai -tnai

Problem: Genitives precede their head noun and subjects precede their verb Possessive affixes follow their head noun and subject affixes follow their verb

Khalkha g) bi med-ne I know-PRS h) med-ne bi know-PRS I

F. Complexity and society

16. Latin (Horace, Odes, 1.5)

Quis multā gracilis tē puer in rosā what many slender you boy in roses perfūsus liquidīs urget odōribus sprinkled liquid woos scents grātō, Pyrrha, sub antrō? pleasant Pyrrha in grotto

‘What slender boy, sprinkled with liquid scents, woos you, Pyrrha, in many roses in a pleasant grotto?’

Quis multā gracilis tē puer in rosā what many slender you boy in roses perfūsus liquidīs urget odōribus sprinkled liquid woos scents grātō, Pyrrha, sub antrō? pleasant Pyrrha in grotto NOMINATIVE SINGULAR MASCULINE

Quis multā gracilis tē puer in rosā what many slender you boy in roses perfūsus liquidīs urget odōribus sprinkled liquid woos scents grātō, Pyrrha, sub antrō? pleasant Pyrrha in grotto ABLATIVE SINGULAR FEMININE

Quis multā gracilis tē puer in rosā what many slender you boy in roses perfūsus liquidīs urget odōribus sprinkled liquid woos scents grātō, Pyrrha, sub antrō? pleasant Pyrrha in grotto ABLATIVE PLURAL

Quis multā gracilis tē puer in rosā what many slender you boy in roses perfūsus liquidīs urget odōribus sprinkled liquid woos scents grātō, Pyrrha, sub antrō? pleasant Pyrrha in grotto ABLATIVE SINGULAR NEUTER

17. Guugu Yimidhirr (Northeast Queensland, Australia) Yarragaagamun gudaa gunday biibangun. boy dog hit father

Yarraga-aga-mu-n gudaa gunday biiba-ngun. boy-GENITIVE-mu-ERG dog.ABS hit father-ERG ‘The boy’s father hit the dog.’ ERG(ATIVE) case for the subject/agent of a transitive verb ABS(OLUTIVE) case for the object/patient of a transitive verb and for the subject of an intransitive verb

Yarraga-aga-mu-n gudaa gunday biiba-ngun. boy-GENITIVE-mu-ERG dog.ABS hit father-ERG i.e. ‘boy’ is “possessor” of ‘father’ (‘the boy’s father’)

Yarraga-aga-mu-n gudaa gunday biiba-ngun. boy-GENITIVE-mu-ERG dog.ABS hit father-ERG i.e. ‘boy’ and ‘father’ belong together

G. Development of explicitness in written (or rather: non-face-to-face) communication Seychelles Creole

18. (1974 translation of Gospel according to Mark) Lever, prend ou natte, marcher. ‘Rise, take your bed, walk.’

19. (1987 translation of same passage) Lever, ranmas ou nat e marse. ‘Rise, pick_up your bed and walk.’

20. Son konteni pou fer parti tes dray imedyatman ‘Its contents will form part of drivers’ tests immediately e konsekanman bann bon drayver i a war la endispansab. and consequently potential drivers will find it indispensable.’

21. I osi regretab ki ‘It is also regrettable that kanmenm en sirkiler pour kresolizasyon lo nivo nasyonal in sorti, although a circular for creolization at the national level has been issued, i ankor annan bann batiman piblik there are still public buildings ki pa ankor koriz fot lortograf lo zot lansenny. which have not yet corrected spelling mistakes in their signs.’

WHAT DO LINGUISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE

EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE?

Bernard Comrie

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and University of California, Santa Barbara

comrie@eva.mpg.de