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Abstract

When speaking about the way language evolved in human prehistory, it is highly implausible to assume that humans developed language because they needed it in order to adapt better, and faster, to their environment. We do, indeed, have adaptive theories of language evolution but, as will become clear from the following section, the view of language underlying all adaptive Darwinian theories of language evolution does not ascribe any meaningful role to ʼneed’ as a driving force. When it comes to the genesis and evolution of individual grammatical categories, however, the factor of ʼneed’ often assumes the very conspicuous status of a driving force for the rise of grammatical categories. A number of explanations for grammatical categories proposed in the literature do just this: they assume that individual grammatical categories arise in order to fulfill a functional need, to fill a gap in the grammatical system, so that the system becomes better adapted to communicative needs. © editorial matter and organization Maggie Tallerman 2005.