Derek Bickerton
Encyclopedia
Derek Bickerton is a linguist
and Professor
Emeritus
at the University of Hawaii
, Manoa
. Based on his work in creole language
s in Guyana
and Hawaii
, he has proposed that the features of creole languages provide powerful insights into the development of language
both by individuals and as a feature of the human species. He is the originator and main proponent of the language bioprogram hypothesis
according to which the similarity of creoles is due to their being formed from a prior pidgin
by children who all share a universal human innate grammar capacity.
Bickerton also wrote several novels. He is the father of contemporary artist Ashley Bickerton
.
, England
in 1949, Derek Bickerton entered academic life in the 1960s, first as a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Cape Coast
, Ghana
, and then, after a year's postgraduate work in linguistics at the University of Leeds
, as Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Guyana
(1967–71). For twenty-four years he was a Professor of Linguistics
at the University of Hawaii
, having meanwhile received a Ph.D.
in linguistics from the University of Cambridge
(1976).
deemed the proposed experiment unethical and refused to fund it.
In his book Roots of Language (1981), Bickerton speculates on a theory to answer three questions:
In Language and Species (1990), he suggests that all three questions might be answered by postulating that the origin of language
can be traced to the evolution
of representation systems and symbolic thinking, together with a later development of formal syntax
. Using primitive communication
faculties, which then evolved in parallel, mental models became shared representations subject to cultural evolution. In Lingua ex Machina (2000) he and William Calvin revise this speculative theory by considering the biological foundations of symbolic representation and their influence on the evolution of the brain
.
In his memoir Bastard Tongues (2008), he describes himself as a "street linguist" who emphasizes field work, with a "total lack of respect for the respectable", and he outlines his theories for a general audience.
In Adam’s Tongue (2009), he makes an argument for the origin of language
with niche construction
as the catalyst. He claims that human language is not on a continuum from an animal communication system but is a separate entity entirely. Animal communication systems (or ACSs) only convey information that relates to individual survival, mating and reproduction, and social signals. Yet above all, an ACS only acts to coerce others within the species and cannot be removed from the present circumstances. Human language on the other hand is capable of displacement
.
Bickerton argues that niche construction by early man allowed this breakthrough from an ACS into language. He cites the fact that around two million years ago our ancestors had found their way to the top of the scavenging pyramid, and were accessing the carcasses of megafauna before any other predators had a chance at it. They had moved into the high-end scavenging niche. This was a niche that required the cooperation of all the early humans in a group. By imitating an animal, like a mammoth, one could attempt to convince others to follow them to the body - a large source of meat. Granted, imitation is iconic (while language is symbolic), but these instances were an act of displacement in communication since the body could be miles away and discovered hours earlier. Over time, the sounds signifying something like a mammoth would be decontextualized and come to resemble something much more closely resembling a word. Displacement, he claims, is the breakthrough that leads to language.
He claims that these words allowed the formation of concepts (rather than simply categories that animals are also capable of). Words began as the anchors for sensory information and memories about a specific animal or object. Once the brain had words it could create concepts which came together as a protolanguage. The protolanguage remained much like a pidgin
for a million years or more, eventually it went from the “beads-on-a-string” model of speech to a hierarchical structure through Merge
.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
at the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
, Manoa
Manoa
thumb|240px|right|Vintage shot of University of Hawaii, Manoa240px|thumb|right|Vintage photo of Manoa ValleyMānoa is a valley and a residential neighborhood of Honolulu CDP of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States; the community is approximately three miles east and inland from...
. Based on his work in creole language
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
s in Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, he has proposed that the features of creole languages provide powerful insights into the development of language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
both by individuals and as a feature of the human species. He is the originator and main proponent of the language bioprogram hypothesis
Language bioprogram theory
The language bioprogram theory or language bioprogram hypothesis is a theory arguing that the structural similarities between different creole languages cannot be solely attributed to their superstrate and substrate languages...
according to which the similarity of creoles is due to their being formed from a prior pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
by children who all share a universal human innate grammar capacity.
Bickerton also wrote several novels. He is the father of contemporary artist Ashley Bickerton
Ashley Bickerton
Ashley Bickerton is a contemporary artist living in Bali. A mixed-media artist, Bickerton often combines both photographic and painterly elements with industrial and found object assemblages...
.
Background
A graduate of the University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1949, Derek Bickerton entered academic life in the 1960s, first as a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Cape Coast
University of Cape Coast
The University of Cape Coast, Ghana, is one of the rare sea-front universities in the world. The university was established in 1962 out of a dire need for highly qualified and skilled manpower in education and was affiliated to the University of Ghana...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, and then, after a year's postgraduate work in linguistics at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, as Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Guyana
University of Guyana
The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana is a public university established in 1963 by the Guyanese government.-History:Cheddi Jagan, then Premier of British Guiana considered that the University of the West Indies, to which his government had contributed since 1948, was not meeting the...
(1967–71). For twenty-four years he was a Professor of Linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
at the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
, having meanwhile received a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in linguistics from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
(1976).
Research
To answer questions about creole formation, in the late 1970s Bickerton proposed an experiment that involves marooning on an island six couples speaking six different languages, along with children too young to have acquired their parents’ languages. The NSFNational Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
deemed the proposed experiment unethical and refused to fund it.
In his book Roots of Language (1981), Bickerton speculates on a theory to answer three questions:
- How did creole languageCreole languageA creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
s originate? - How do children acquire languageLanguage acquisitionLanguage acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. This language might be vocal as with...
? - How did the language faculty originate as a feature of the human species?
In Language and Species (1990), he suggests that all three questions might be answered by postulating that the origin of language
Origin of language
The origin of language is the emergence of language in the human species. This is a highly controversial topic. Empirical evidence is so limited that many regard it as unsuitable for serious scholars. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris went so far as to ban debates on the subject...
can be traced to the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of representation systems and symbolic thinking, together with a later development of formal syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
. Using primitive communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
faculties, which then evolved in parallel, mental models became shared representations subject to cultural evolution. In Lingua ex Machina (2000) he and William Calvin revise this speculative theory by considering the biological foundations of symbolic representation and their influence on the evolution of the brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
.
In his memoir Bastard Tongues (2008), he describes himself as a "street linguist" who emphasizes field work, with a "total lack of respect for the respectable", and he outlines his theories for a general audience.
In Adam’s Tongue (2009), he makes an argument for the origin of language
Origin of language
The origin of language is the emergence of language in the human species. This is a highly controversial topic. Empirical evidence is so limited that many regard it as unsuitable for serious scholars. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris went so far as to ban debates on the subject...
with niche construction
Niche construction
Niche construction is the process in which an organism alters its own environment, often but not always in a manner that increases its chances of survival...
as the catalyst. He claims that human language is not on a continuum from an animal communication system but is a separate entity entirely. Animal communication systems (or ACSs) only convey information that relates to individual survival, mating and reproduction, and social signals. Yet above all, an ACS only acts to coerce others within the species and cannot be removed from the present circumstances. Human language on the other hand is capable of displacement
Displacement (linguistics)
In linguistics, displacement is the capability of human language to communicate about things that are not immediately present.In 1960, Charles F. Hockett proposed displacement as one of 13 "design-features" that distinguish human language from animal language:...
.
Bickerton argues that niche construction by early man allowed this breakthrough from an ACS into language. He cites the fact that around two million years ago our ancestors had found their way to the top of the scavenging pyramid, and were accessing the carcasses of megafauna before any other predators had a chance at it. They had moved into the high-end scavenging niche. This was a niche that required the cooperation of all the early humans in a group. By imitating an animal, like a mammoth, one could attempt to convince others to follow them to the body - a large source of meat. Granted, imitation is iconic (while language is symbolic), but these instances were an act of displacement in communication since the body could be miles away and discovered hours earlier. Over time, the sounds signifying something like a mammoth would be decontextualized and come to resemble something much more closely resembling a word. Displacement, he claims, is the breakthrough that leads to language.
He claims that these words allowed the formation of concepts (rather than simply categories that animals are also capable of). Words began as the anchors for sensory information and memories about a specific animal or object. Once the brain had words it could create concepts which came together as a protolanguage. The protolanguage remained much like a pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
for a million years or more, eventually it went from the “beads-on-a-string” model of speech to a hierarchical structure through Merge
Merge (linguistics)
Merge is one of the basic operations in the Minimalist Program, a leading approach to generative syntax, when two syntactic objects are combined to form a new syntactic unit . Merge also has the property of recursion in that it may apply to its own output: the objects combined by Merge are either...
.