To account for human language, we propose a multifaceted and explicitly biocultural framework grounded in empirical investigations spanning a diverse array of empirical and theoretical fields. The framework is illustrated with three facets of language with distinctive evolutionary history, each involving multiple disciplines and several species — e.g., humans, primates, and songbirds. Such case studies highlight the importance of both biological preparedness and cultural processes, as well as the interactions between them, in the emergence of language. The empty gray boxes suggest other facets of language, not discussed, that could be similarly investigated under this framework.
Arnon, Inbal, Liran Carmel, Nicolas Claidière, et al. 2025.
What Enables Human Language? A Biocultural Framework
Science 390 (6775): eadq8303. — @HAL