?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Language+polygenesis%3A+A+probabilistic+model&rft.creator=Freedman%2C+David+A.&rft.creator=Wang%2C+William&rft.subject=Language&rft.subject=Evolutionary+Psychology&rft.subject=Historical+Linguistics&rft.subject=Computational+Linguistics&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Language&rft.description=Monogenesis+of+language+is+widely+accepted%2C+but+the+conventional+argument+seems+to+be+mistaken%3B+a+simple+probabilistic+model+shows+that+polygenesis+is+likely.+Other+prehistoric+inventions+are+discussed%2C+as+are+problems+in+tracing+linguistic+lineages.+Language+is+a+system+of+representations%3B+within+such+a+system%2C+words+can+evoke+complex+and+systematic+responses.+Along+with+its+social+functions%2C+language+is+important+to+humans+as+a+mental+instrument.+Indeed%2C+the+invention+of+language%2Cthat+is+the+accumulation+of+symbols+to+represent+emotions%2C+objects%2C+and+acts+may+be+the+most+important+event+in+human+evolution%2C+because+so+many+developments+follow+from+it.+For+example%2C+Edward+Sapir+speculated+that+some+embryonic+form+of+language+must+have+been+available+to+early+man+to+help+him+fashion+tools+from+stone+(Sapir%2C1921).+Sophisticated+biface+stone+tools+date+to+early+Homo+erectus+some+1.5+million+years+ago%2C+suggesting+a+similar+age+for+language.+This+paper+considers+whether+the+invention+of+language+occurred+at+only+one+pre-historic+site+or+at+several+sites.+In+other+words%2C+did+language+emerge+by+monogenesis+or+polygenesis%3F+Early+thinkers+believed+in+monogenesis%2C+against+a+background+of+divine+creation.+Perhaps+the+best+known+account+is+the+biblical+story+of+Adam+giving+names+to+plants+and+animals+in+the+Garden+of+Eden.+Similar+legends+are+found+among+many+peoples.+Modern+linguists+too+assume+monogenesis%2C+but+on+probabilistic+grounds+(see%2C+for+instance%2C+Southworth+and+Daswani%2C+1974%2C+p.314).+The+argument+seems+to+be+that+the+invention+of+language+is+an+extremely+unlikely+event%2C+because+symbolization+involves+abstraction+and+requires+synchronized+insight+by+several+individuals%3B+therefore%2C+the+probability+of+occurrence+at+more+than+one+site+must+be+vanishingly+small.+We+have+found+no+explicit+quantitative+treatment+of+this+question+in+the+literature%2C+but+the+underlying+logic+has+to+be+the+multiplication+of+probabilities.+If+p+is+small+at+one+site%2Cthen+p.p+for+two+sites+is+smaller+still%2C+and+so+on.+This+reasoning+is+false%2C+as+we+show+here.+The+fallacy+lies+in+the+focus+on+two+particular+sites+rather+than+consideration+of+all+pairs+of+sites.&rft.date=1996&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpostscript&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F478%2F2%2Flanguage_polygenesis.ps&rft.identifier=++Freedman%2C+David+A.+and+Wang%2C+William++(1996)+Language+polygenesis%3A+A+probabilistic+model.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F478%2F