A novel evolutionary perspective on language: The advantage of arbitrariness and roots of discreteness

Language is one of the greatest mysteries in the evolution of humankind. It is a remarkable phenomenon that appears to be distinct from other animal communication system, and yet its evolutionary roots remain far from clear. One interesting feature of human language, that does not seem to exist in other communication systems, is the arbitrary relationship between form and meaning. In recent years, many studies have emphasised cases of non-arbitrariness, such as iconicity, and pointed to its advantages for communication, but the merits of arbitrariness itself are rarely considered. This project takes a novel perspective and aims to demonstrate the potential advantage of arbitrariness, in order to elucidate it as an evolutionary adaptive behavioural trait. The specific proposal is that arbitrariness supports communication under noisy conditions. A combination of cross-linguistic comparison, laboratory psycholinguistic experiments, and computational modelling will illuminate the role of arbitrariness in efficient communication. It will demonstrate how decoupling form and meaning reduces ambiguities, when context is available, and explore the effects of various types of naturally occurring noise. The project aims to further demonstrate the role of another quality of arbitrariness: that is, the induction of a discrete communication system. This has consequences for the emergence of complex linguistic characteristics, such as syntax and compositionality. By integrating ideas from distinct fields, such as the evolution of animal communication, and cross-cultural and cross-linguistic human studies, the project has the potential to set forth a novel theory about key aspects of the evolution of language.