NDLI: Semiotic Hypercycles Driving the Evolution of Language

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Semiotic Hypercycles Driving the Evolution of Language

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Wildgen, Wolfgang
Copyright Year	2007
Abstract	The evolution of human symbolic capacity must have been very rapid even in some intermediate stage (e.g. the proto-symbolic behavior of Homo erectus). Such a rapid process requires a runaway model. The type of very selective and hyperbolically growing self-organization called “hypercyle” by Eigen and Schuster could explain the rapidity and depth of the evolutionary process, whereas traditional runaway models of sexual selection seem to be rather implausible in the case of symbolic evolution. We assume two levels: at the first level the species is adapted to ecological demands and accumulates the effects of this process in the genome. At the second level a kind of social/cultural knowledge is accumulated via a set of symbolic forms, one of which is language. Bühler’s model of three basic functions of signs can also be elaborated so that its cyclic structure becomes apparent. We assume that the hypercyclic process of semiosis and functional differentiation was triggered in 2 my BP (with the Homo erectus) and got more and more speed with the species Homo sapiens and later. The consequences for the evolutionary stratification of human languages will be drawn in the last section of the paper. The basic aim of the paper is to provide a semiotic (and not just a linguistic) explanation of the origin of language which can be linked to relevant models in evolutionary biology and which exploits the possibilities contained in self-organizing systems.
Starting Page	91
Ending Page	116
Page Count	26
File Format	PDF
ISSN	11221151
Journal	Axiomathes
Volume Number	18
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15728390
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2007-12-07
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Origin of life Origin of language Language capacity Self-organization Semiotic hypercycle Cognitive hypercycle Human ecology Infinite semiosis Biosemiotics Philosophy Ontology Linguistics (general) Cognitive Psychology Logic
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Mathematics

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