This thesis addresses a major problem facing any attempt to account for language
structure through a cultural mechanism: The processes required by such a mechanism
are only possible if we assume the existence of a range of preconditions. These
preconditions are not trivial, and themselves require an explanation. In this thesis I
address the nature and origin of these preconditions.
I approach this topic in three stages. In the first stage, I pull-apart the functioning of
one prominent cultural account of language evolution—the Iterated Learning Model
—to identify the preconditions it assumes. These preconditions cluster into two main
groups. The first concerns the traditional transmission of the communication
system. The second relates to the emergence of particular skills of social cognition
that make learned symbols and language-like communication a possibility.
In the second stage, I turn to comparative evidence, looking for evolutionary
analogies that might shed light on the emergence of these preconditions. Two case
studies—the Bengalese finch and the domestic dog—are considered in detail, both of
which show aspects of one of the preconditions emerging in the context of
domestication. In each case I examine what it is about the domestication process that
led to this outcome.
In the final stage, I consider whether this same context might explain the emergence
of these preconditions in humans. The claim that humans are a self-domesticated
species has a long history, and is increasingly invoked in contemporary discussions
of language evolution. However, it is often unclear exactly what this claim entails. I
present a synthesis and critique of a range of empirical and theoretical perspectives
on self-domestication. I conclude that human self-domestication is a coherent
concept, and that there are several plausible accounts of how it might have occurred.
The realisation that humans are a self-domesticated species can, therefore, provide
some insight into how a cultural account of language structure might be possible at
all
