Origins of Human Language - Survival of the Fittest Language?

5 important questions on Origins of Human Language - Survival of the Fittest Language?

What is it called when mutations spread randomly when some individuals in the population happen to reproduce more than other not because of any genetic advantages they possess, but simply because they got lucky?

Genetic drift

What is it called when adaptive mutations that enhance an individual’s prospects of passing their genes on to lots of offspring spread throughout a population because they outcompete genotypes that don’t offer this advantage?

Directional selection

What are the two forces that explain genetic diversity and how it is that single species can split off into distinct species over time?

Genetic drift
Directional selection
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What are the characteristics that give language a better chance of surviving and being passed on to the next generation?

1) Language needs to be communicatively useful. Meaning that it should be able to convey the information that people want efficiently (for both speaker and receiver).

2) New learners need to be able to learn the language. Features that are difficult to learn will simply not be learned reliably and will not be passed down to new generations.

What is "cultural transmission of language change"?

Language changes over time to adapt to the human mind, with constraints and abilities that the human mind brings to learning and using language. (unlike nativists, who believe that the human minds adapt for the requirements of language)

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