Rethinking Sociality in Language Evolution

Enlanguagement as a Catalyst for Shifts in Developmental Pathways

Abstract

A significant body of research on the roots of human language highlights the crucial role played by changes in ancestral sociality. Recent studies have revived the hypothesis of human self-domestication, arguing that it provides new insights into the development of human sociality, cultural evolution, and symbolic communication. While the concept of domestication offers an intriguing interpretation of the co-evolution of body, cognition, and behavior, its application to human evolution is controversial. This paper explores an alternative perspective, suggesting that the enlanguagement of interactions may have acted as a catalyst for evolutionary change. We propose that the consolidation of enlanguaged practices, underpinned by the amplification of social dispositions, set in motion an evolutionary spiral. We explore how this process may have reshaped ancestral developmental trajectories and niches, ultimately culminating in the distinctive mode of life that characterizes our species.