Language Contact and Linguistic Diversity
Stephen Fafulas
The formation of different languages and of distinct species, and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are curiously parallel.
―Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.
L
anguage is an individual entity constrained by our cognitive abilities and woven into our biological fabric. At the same time, language is a social construct that is shaped through communication in the ever-changing world in which it is used. Without language, our means of expression, interaction, and knowledge transmission would be drastically different, if not impossible. Our species is unique in its ability to communicate through socio-culturally agreed upon symbols, which serve to draw attention to mental states and events in the outside world. While certain properties of language reflect our similarities, others are manifestations of our differences. In part, these differences are responsible for the fact that we do not all speak the same language. In this essay, I examine how external forces, such as geo-political boundaries, population demographics, and world economies, lead to linguistic diversity and change.
The thousands of languages of the world share certain complex features. Children are capable of acquiring any of these languages, provided that they are exposed to the conventionalized linguistic symbols of their environment within a specific window of opportunity (the critical period). Moreover, children do this rapidly without explicit explanation. Children ultimately acquire the ability to use language in novel ways and express an infinite number of ideas. Given the striking uniformity in completing this task, it is hard to argue against an underlying biological architecture for human language. The ability to 111
DiseĂąo interiores 2.indd 111
3/27/2014 11:09:36 PM