ASPM-lexical tone association in speakers of a tone language: Direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution
| Autor: | Kay H. Y. Wong, Kwong Wai Choy, Xiujuan Geng, Xin Kang, Patrick C. M. Wong, Hon-Cheong So |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
media_common.quotation_subject
Population Social Sciences 050105 experimental psychology ASPM 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Perception Genetics 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Linkage (linguistics) education Association (psychology) Research Articles media_common education.field_of_study Multidisciplinary 05 social sciences SciAdv r-articles Human Genetics Tone (literature) Feature (linguistics) Linguistic anthropology Psychology 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Cognitive psychology Research Article |
| Zdroj: | Science Advances |
| ISSN: | 2375-2548 |
| Popis: | A link between ASPM gene and tone feature provides direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution. How language has evolved into more than 7000 varieties today remains a question that puzzles linguists, anthropologists, and evolutionary scientists. The genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution postulates that genes and language features coevolve, such that a population that is genetically predisposed to perceiving a particular linguistic feature would tend to adopt that feature in their language. Statistical studies that correlated a large number of genetic variants and linguistic features not only generated this hypothesis but also specifically pinpointed a linkage between ASPM and lexical tone. However, there is currently no direct evidence for this association and, therefore, the hypothesis. In an experimental study, we provide evidence to link ASPM with lexical tone perception in a sample of over 400 speakers of a tone language. In addition to providing the first direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis, our results have implications for further studies of linguistic anthropology and language disorders. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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