论语言演化中的选择机制

Selection Mechanism in the Evolution of Language

以往基于进化论的语言演化研究对进化论的关键词——变异、复制、选择重视不够,但是不断积累的进化论成果证实了变异、复制都是选择的结果。因此,选择在语言演化中占据着重要地位。语言的社会属性决定了语言演化中选择的主体是人,因此这种选择是人为的而并非自然的。选择机制在语言演化中主要体现在微观层面和宏观层面。微观层面的个体语言者的选择间接地影响语言演化,而宏观层面的语言团体的选择对语言演化有直接的影响。

The previous studies on the language evolution on the basis of the theory of evolution attached little im- portance to keywords in evolution theory--variation, replication and selection. However, the accumulating studies on evolution theory confirmed that both variation and replication result from selection. Therefore, selection occupies an important position in language evolution. The social nature of language determines that the selection subject in the language evolution is human being, so the selection is man-made instead of being natural. Selection mechanism in language evolution mainly manifests itself in the micro-and macro-level. Individual selection in micro-level indi- rectly affects language evolution whereas the selection of language community in macro-levels has direct impact on it.