Biology subjects

Ringen, E. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Ringen, E. J..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Linguistic evolution minimizes the amount of syntactic hierarchy in grammar

A core characteristic of language is the capacity for hierarchical syntax, but it remains debated to what extent languages favor hierarchical structure in their grammars, that is, the extent to which they favor hierarchical structures like "When driving, look ahead!" over concatenations like "You drive, you look ahead!". Through phylogenetic modeling of the grammars of clause combining in three extensive language families (Tupi-Guarani, Sino-Tibetan, and Indo-European), we find an overall bias towards minimizing hierarchy, with significant cultural variation. Our findings suggest that the computational and representational benefits of hierarchical structure tend not to be universally exploited in clause combinations, likely because they come with additional costs for learning. In consequence, the amount of hierarchy in language might differ from what is found in animal communication in a more graded way than commonly assumed.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

A Phylogenetic Perspective on the Syntax-Semantics Interface: A Case Study in Clause Linkage Constructions

We examine the syntax-semantics interface in clause linkage using a cross-linguistic sample of nearly 700 constructions from Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Tupi-Guarani. To evaluate predictions from the Interclausal Relations Hierarchy, we model the phylogenetic dynamics of how semantic relations influence the degree of syntactic integration between clauses. The best performing model assumes an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process in each family and suggests only moderate and lineage-specific effects of semantics on syntax, challenging the universality of the Interclausal Relations Hierarchy. Furthermore, geographic proximity exerts only minimal effects, consistent with the notion that the syntax-semantics interface may be more resistant to contact effects than overtly signaled and transparent patterns in language. Together, our findings suggest that the syntax-semantics interface is less constrained in clause linkage than is commonly assumed in typology. They furthermore highlight the value of treating phylogeny as a dynamic evolutionary process, rather than as a static background structure.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

An inverse correlation between linguistic and genetic diversity

Human population history, as traced by our genome, has shaped the distribution of languages around the world. While case studies suggest that population history can also affect specific structures of languages, such as patterns in their sound systems and grammars, results are conflicting, and it remains unknown whether such effects hold globally. Here we show that, adjusting for geography, phylogeny, and environment, genetic diversity is inversely correlated with diversity in linguistic structures. Low genetic diversity (i.e. excess homozygosity) results from relative isolation, and this promotes diversification in language. High genetic diversity results from contact and migration, and this promotes homogenization in language. These effects are particularly pronounced in Asia and, under some conditions, also in a few other areas, suggesting sociocultural factors contributing to differences in how strongly isolation favors linguistic diversity and how strongly contact promotes linguistic homogenization. Our results suggest that present-day hotspots of linguistic diversity, which are characterized by relative isolation, may provide a privileged window on the dynamics of linguistic evolution as they are less affected by the vast demographic expansions, migrations, and extinctions that characterize the Neolithic age.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Global patterns of genetic admixture reveal effects of language contact

When speakers of different languages are in contact, they often borrow features like sounds, words, or syntactic patterns from one language to the other, but the lack of historical data has hampered estimation of this effect at a global scale. We break out of this impasse by using genetic admixture as a proxy for population contact. We find that language pairs whose speaker populations underwent genetic admixture or that are located in the same geo-historical area share more features than others, suggesting borrowing. The effect varies strongly across features, partly following expectations from differences in lifelong learnability, partly responding to differences in social imbalances during contact. Additionally, we find that for some features, admixture decreases sharing. This likely reflects signals of divergence (schismogenesis) under contact.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Primate origins of human event cognition

Human language relies on a rich cognitive machinery, partially shared with other animals. One key mechanism, decomposing events into causally-linked agent-patient roles, however, has remained elusive with no known animal equivalent. In humans, agent-patient relations in event cognition drive how languages are processed neurally and expressions structured syntactically. We compared visual event tracking between humans and great apes, using stimuli that would elicit causal processing in humans. After accounting for attention to background information, we found similar gaze patterns to agent-patient relations in all species, mostly alternating attention to agents and patients, presumably in order to learn the nature of the event, and occasionally privileging agents under specific conditions. Six-month-old infants, in contrast, did not follow agent-patient relations and attended mostly to background information. We conclude that event role tracking, a cognitive foundation of syntax, evolved long before language but requires time and experience to become ontogenetically available. Significance statementHuman adults and great apes, but not human infants, track natural events as agent-patient relations, a cognitive foundation for syntax.

animal behavior and cognition↗