The evolutionary origin of morphology

Abstract

The evolution of grammar is well established as a subfield within research on language evolution. One influential view is that of Bickerton (1990, 1995; Calvin and Bickerton 2000): there existed a pre syntactic stage, ‘protolanguage’, in which the interpretation of strings of linguistic items (protowords, one might say) depended solely on pragmatics. For the transition to syntax, various widely divergent scenarios have been proposed; see also McDaniel, Chapter 7. But one question concerning grammatical evolution has been relatively neglected. Why is it that in most (though not all) contemporary languages, it is necessary to distinguish two kinds of grammatical organization: syntax and morphology? How and why did this distinction arise in linguistic prehistory?.