Meditative Gaze and the Biolinguistic Programme: The question of Culture Tanmoy Bhattacharya CASL/ University of Delhi tanmoy@linguistics.du.ac.in 1. Language evolution 1.1. Time line  5-6 million years: separation of chimpanzee and hominids  3 million years: Bipedalism; East Africa; Australopithecene as the genus. The fossils of feet and pelvis of the Australopithecene clearly indicate that they walked fully erect. This led to anatomical changes in neck/ head, jaw, teeth, oral cavity (the larynx lowered several CMs) resulting into larger pharyngeal cavity.  2.5 million years: Homo habilis: began making (crude) tools  1 million year: Homo erectus – refined and varied tools (fossils in Asia as well  migration) The “Out of Africa” thesis: Migration is studied through mtDNA, which remains unchanged throughout generations. 1.2. Two Types of Language Evolution I.e., Continuity versus exaptation (sudden change in function): whether language evolved by gradual extension of pre-existing communication systems or whether important aspects of language have been exapted away from their previous adaptive function e.g. spatial/ temporal reasoning, tool-making etc. 1.2.1. Evolutionary Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy (The Origins of Complex Language): In the line of “evolutionary” theories of language (language as a continuity): language evolved from simple to complex forms. Specifically, lowering of larynx led to vocalization. (1) 3 SOUND (ONSET) RHYME 3 NUCLEUS (CODA) SUBJECT PREDICATE SENTENCE 1.2.2. Non-Evolutionary [see PPT] In Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould, 1989, the discovery of the fossils of Burgess Shale is described. These fossils are around 530 million years old and lie between the Precambrian (pre-570, when multicellular life appeared) and Paleozoic eras. The idea that different species and phyla can co-exist, implies the non-linear view of evolution and finally leads to the exaptation thesis of language evolution, viz., that the two language-independent areas responsible for broadly sound and meaning get ‘suddenly’ connected. This is the story, in flesh and blood, behind the invered-Y model of the architecture of language. The “exapted” cognitive area is the Faculty of Language, or, FL: (2) (I) (II) (III) The 3 ends (marked I,II,III) and the intersection point (marked by a box), have been named different things: Ends Names (I) Deep, D-str, Numeration (II) Sound, PF, AP, sensory-motor (III) Meaning, LF, CI  Surface, S-str, Spell-Out  Linearity  Speaker-Hearer