NEUTRAL MODELS FOR LANGUAGE EVOLUTION

摘要

Identifying the evolutionary forces that we need to appeal to in order to explain aspects of human languages requires having a clear understanding of the effects of those forces. Evolutionary biologists use neutral models to characterize how systems evolve in the absence of selection (e.g., Kimura, 1983). Neutral models are valuable as a means of obtaining insight into the effects of evolutionary forces other than selection - mutation and genetic drift - and as a null hypothesis that can be used when testing for the presence of selection.