Why should socio-linguists be interested in language origins?
I propose that to understand language evolution, we need sociolinguistics: Language change in historical times cannot be fully understood without sociolinguistic principles and theory. o It seems likely that early language in prehistory played a role in the development of sociability and society among humans o But, is this a chicken or egg role? Did language facilitate development of society, or vice versa? Language must have evolved in small, tight-knit (esoteric) situations o where everyone knew all other members of the group, and o social relationships were fundamental to survival. It seems necessary then that the study of language evolution must be informed by sociolinguistics as well. And for a comprehensive understanding of sociolinguistics, we need to know about the evolution of language: The variety and diversity of languages, and the complexity of their uses and functions, are the main facts which sociolinguistics tries to understand; These are obviously the result of evolutio
