语言起源之进化说述评

Towards a Unified Commentary of the Evolutionary Theory of Language Origin

语言的起源问题是人类学家、分子生物学家、考古学家以及历史语言学家所共同关心的话题。近年来,围绕着语言源于进化的观点出现了三大派理论:Pinker的达尔文主义渐变论;Bickerton的语言起源两阶段论;Aitchison的"语言篝火论"。这三大理论各执一词,互不相容,本文予对此三大理论进行介绍,同时说明Aitchison的进化观点是最合理的。

The origin of language is a hot topic that is concerned by anthropologist, molecule biologist, archeologist and historical linguist. In the recent years, there appeared three theories surrounding the issue of language evolution： Pinker＇s gradualism; Bickerton＇s language evolution in two stages; Aitchison＇s language bonfire. These three theories are inconsistent with one another, this paper will offer an introduction of their theories and at the same time illuminate that Aitchison＇s point of view is the most reasonable.