THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE AND SOCIO-CULTURE

Language is the most salient human attributive that co-evolved with culture. Without the innate ability to learn language it would have been impossible for our ancestors to communicate over ever larger social networks, or to solve complex problems in the ecological environment. The high level of differentiation of human language gives us the ability to convey complex information, and develop symbolic means of representation or what is called artefactual languages. The meaning of events around us and the natural world was symbolized on the walls of caves even in very early human cultures. Although other species communicate, they are not able to speculate about the intentions of others, but humans can not only convey their own intentions, but also attribute intentions to the behavior of others. These abilities form the foundations of human culture as informational and meaning systems that are passed from one generation to the next. Language is a universal hardwired attribute, but all cultures have developed their own variances and means of expressions. Examining the differences between languages helps us understand important components of cultural evolutionary history. Some communications are non-verbal and cultures impart meaning also to variances of non-verbal behavior.

How languages developed is important to our understanding of the role of culture. In the world of today cultures communicate not just within, but increasingly also between cultures. Since the lexical and grammatical content may be unique to each language, there are barriers to overcome when communicating between cultures. Although we live in the age of globalization unique language attributes will continue to influence language development and culture in the foreseeable future. Language gives humans the possibility to think, and unique features of each culture may canalize our thoughts in divergent directions. Understanding the impact of culturally directed thoughts is salient in our emerging new world.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 680