Linguistic researchers came to a consensus some time ago that humans’ capacity for language is genetically hardwired. It would seem, however, that with over 7,000 languages currently spoken worldwide, that this hardwiring of language is rather flexible. It’s no wonder, then, that scientists recently began to explore whether some of this tremendous linguistic diversity can be attributed to genetics.
Linguists at the University of Edinburgh investigated whether there exists a genetic difference among speakers of non-tonal and tonal languages (i.e. languages that use pitch in addition to consonants and vowels to impart meaning). The researchers discovered a correlation between genes and tonality, and based on their findings, they further hypothesized that linguistic tone is influenced by a pair of genes that influence brain growth and development. Further scientific study has shown that certain linguistic features such as tone and the presence of front rounded vowels may indeed be “genetically anchored,” and as such, these features are much more likely to persist over time.
For more information on this topic, visit The Economist.
Interesting article.