11.10.2022 - Morten Christiansen

Abstract

Language is perhaps the most important product of human cultural evolution. In this talk, I argue that language arises through the continual re-use and refinement of improvised collaborative interactions to solve the communicative challenges of the moment. From this perspective, talking is like verbal charades: an improvisational game of spinning intricate patterns of words to get the message across. Linguistic structure arises through processes of spontaneous order emerging from cultural evolution over generations of language users, rather than through a biologically encoded language “instinct” or “universal grammar.” In support of this account, I draw on a variety of sources, including experiments exploring the flexibility of human vocalization, the role of memory limitations in cultural transmission, and cross-linguistic differences in the use of conversational devices. I conclude that our improvisational linguistic skills have profoundly changed human evolution, leading to complex cultures and societies, and runaway selection on brains for charade-playing.

Bio

Morten H. Christiansen is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology at Cornell University, Professor in Cognitive Science of Language at the School of Communication and Culture as well as the Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University, Denmark, and a Senior Scientist at the Haskins Labs. He was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society. Christiansen is the author of over 225 scientific papers and has edited four books and authored two monographs. His newest book aimed at a general audience, The Language Game: How Improvisation Created Language and Changed the World, outlines a radical new perspective on how language works.