Language Diversity: Evidence For Language Fitness

In the last few years the study of language evolution has received extensive attention. Many Studies have explored the dynamics and the conditions in which a structured coherent language can emerge (e.g. Nowak 2000). These efforts have been mainly guided by the notion of natural selection, which assumes that language contributes to human fitness, and that successful communication leads to an increase in individual survival probability. Although this assumption is quite intuitive, evidence for its presence is less obvious. In this work we will present some new observations, which are based on empirical data and simulations that address this issue by studying the evolutionary dynamics of language diversity.