Filogenia da Linguagem e a Evolução da Complexidade Semântica

This paper addresses one specific hypothesis on the phylogeny of the human language faculty where semantic theory might play a central role. It is shown how an increase in semantic complexity within a hypothesized communication device may lead, through the action of a single combinatorial principle, to the emergence of a set of well-known grammatical representations afforded by UG, namely, a mapping relation including morphological subroutines. Comparative data from non-human primate cognition is taken into account and a sketch of the possible functional forces behind the transition from morphology-less grammars is examined. The hypothesis presented converges with independent work on language ontogeny (e.g., MARCHMAN; BATES (1994), PLUNKETT; MARCHMAN (1993)) as well as with results from gametheoretic approaches to language evolution (NOWAK; KRAKAUER (1999), NOWAK; PLOTKIN; JANSEN (2000)). Besides this striking result, a strong connection with Linguistic Theory and the rest of Cognitive Science is enforced, a state of affairs not easily found in the general literature on the evolution of language. Key-words: language evolution; semantic theory; grammarcognition interfaces.