Comments on: Language evolution witnessed in lab experiments

By: Ian Tindale

Ian Tindale — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:55:32 +0000

I find interesting the rise of ‘Jafaikan’ here in London, which really gives the impression of having age (low-pass) as the demarcation, rather than cultural background or class or geographical origin. It seems that you can walk into any shop on a Saturday and be assisted in your purchasing quest by one of a number of name-badge wearing youths, all of which will sound just like Ali G – but they’re not putting it on, that really is how they all speak.

By: Bill Chapman

Bill Chapman — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:18:20 +0000

Esperanto is still young enough as a language (121 years old this year)to provide some evidence of language change over time. Some of the early writings now look rather clumsy, compared with modern written and spoken usage.
Bill

By: Rough Guide to Evolution

Rough Guide to Evolution — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:45:57 +0000

Excellent post!
Was going to do a long post on this until I saw yours. But I have added in the historical angle…
http://roughguidetoevolution.blogspot.com/2008/07/cumulative-cultural-evolution-in.html

By: Kayanna

Kayanna — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:55:53 +0000

very very interesting. can we take this to the extreme to construct *computer* languages that are easy enough for the layman to learn?

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:04:03 +0000

enjoyed this one, thanks

By: megan

megan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:45:26 +0000

ooh, interesting. will have to read in more detail later. thanks for posting!

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:54:04 +0000

Er, yes, ahem. Fixed.

By: Mina

Mina — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:31:46 +0000

The first graph and the second.. are.. the same, right? Maybe a linking mix up?
This is a really interesting article! I am really intrigued about the evolution of language, and where can we expect our current ones to go now, so thanks for this one!

By: Staci James

Staci James — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:49:02 +0000

cultural transmission can lead to the appearance of design without a designer