Biolinguistics

Uniformity and Diversity of Language in an Evolutionary Context

2024-02-08T00:25:06-08:00

The paper explores a view on language that is in line with the Strong Minimalist Thesis and that derives an evolutionary scenario predicting language variation in time and space. A stable and uniform UG making available recursive Merge shaped by laws of nature such as simplicity and efficiency has been integrated by a sudden rewiring of the brain into an existing biological system which is comparable to the concept of the faculty of language in the broad sense. The basic oppositions such as symmetry and asymmetry, internal language/thought and externalization, uniformity and diversity, universality and particular languages are derived as an automatic consequence of the architecture of the grammar as it evolved in the human species in concert with general principles of nature. A stable and simple system can be reconciled with a dynamic complex one.

Evaluating the Language Abilities of Large Language Models vs. Humans: Three Caveats

2024-04-19T00:32:26-07:00

We identify and analyze three caveats that may arise when analyzing the linguistic abilities of Large Language Models. The problem of unlicensed generalizations refers to the danger of interpreting performance in one task as predictive of the models’ overall capabilities, based on the assumption that because a specific task performance is indicative of certain underlying capabilities in humans, the same association holds for models. The human-like paradox refers to the problem of lacking human comparisons, while at the same time attributing human-like abilities to the models. Last, the problem of double standards refers to the use of tasks and methodologies that either cannot be applied to humans or they are evaluated differently in models vs. humans. While we recognize the impressive linguistic abilities of LLMs, we conclude that specific claims about the models’ human-likeness in the grammatical domain are premature.

A Theory That Never Was: Wrong Way to the “Dawn of Speech”

2024-04-25T23:39:33-07:00

Recent literature argues that a purportedly long-standing theory—so-called “laryngeal descent theory”—in speech evolution has been refuted (Boë et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw3916). However, an investigation into the relevant source material reveals that the theory described has never been a prominent line of thinking in speech-centric sciences. The confusion arises from a fundamental misunderstanding: the argument that the descent of the larynx and the accompanying changes in the hominin vocal tract expanded the range of possible speech sounds for human ancestors (a theory that enjoys wide interdisciplinary support) is mistakenly interpreted as a belief that all speech was impossible without such changes—a notion that was never widely endorsed in relevant literature. This work aims not to stir controversy but to highlight important historical context in the study of speech evolution.