The principle of Natural Selection

The principle of Natural Selection

• In 1859 Charles Darwin published the book “On the origin of species” in which he demonstrated that Humans are the result of a long evolution.
• He explained the principle of Natural Selection with these words:
• “Any variation, if profitable to an individual of any species
• will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will be
• generally inherited by its offspring. I have called this principle
• by the term of Natural Selection ”.

How did Language emerge?

• Language emerged suddenly, as a rabbit out of a hat. This would be possible because humans are endowed with an innate language faculty (Chomsky).

• Language is the result of a long process, creeping upwards in complexity over millennia, like a snail creeping up a wall. Language capacity increased very slowly.

• The most accredited theory is that of a ‘language bonfire’. After this theory, sparks of language have been flickering for a long time before language begun a fast evolution and then stabilized around 50,000 years ago.

• Language evolution alternated between periods of stasis (stagnation) and periods of fast development (Eldredge and Gould).