For decades, the dominant evolutionary paradigm framed the emergence of human language as a sudden, singular cognitive leap—a "macromutation" that occurred roughly 50,000 years ago, granting the brain the unique capacity for recursion and complex syntax. Prominent proponents of this saltationist model argued that language is an all-or-nothing faculty, too complex to have developed incrementally. Under this view, any intermediate stages of language would have been useless, prompting critics of gradualism to ask what adaptive benefit a hominid could derive from "half a syntax."
However, evolutionary biologists have countered this objection by studying the gestural systems and protolinguistic vocalizations of extant apes. These communication systems, while lacking formal syntax, provide clear adaptive advantages in social coordination and foraging, demonstrating that partial language capacities are functional. By showing that gradual linguistic precursors could indeed enhance survival, these researchers have successfully challenged the claim that language must have appeared fully formed.
The passage states that critics of gradualism have questioned the utility of "half a syntax." According to the passage, how do evolutionary biologists counter this specific objection?
- By showing that simplified communication methods in modern apes offer functional benefits that aid survival.Answer
- BBy agreeing that intermediate linguistic stages were evolutionary dead ends that offered no adaptive advantages.
- CBy proving that human language is a highly complex cognitive faculty that relies on structural recursion.
- DBy establishing that the macromutation occurring 50,000 years ago was actually gradual rather than sudden.