Language is difficult to develop because it requires the simultaneous co-evolution of:
- Social structures & collaborative behavior
- Environmental complexity (technology, etc)
- Brain power
- Physical ability to transfer information over a high-bandwidth channel (e.g. voice)
- Social structures & collaborative behavior
- Environmental complexity (technology, etc)
- Brain power
- Physical ability to transfer information over a high-bandwidth channel (e.g. voice)
Any of these things can become a bottleneck.
In fact, many unrelated species have developed forms of quasi-language, though nowhere near as advanced as that of humans, as they were bottlenecked by e.g. cognitive capabilities or environmental/social complexity.
In fact, many unrelated species have developed forms of quasi-language, though nowhere near as advanced as that of humans, as they were bottlenecked by e.g. cognitive capabilities or environmental/social complexity.
This is also why the evolution of language is a very, very slow process. These factors are all interacting with each other, enabling or restricting the others -- a new factor becoming the new bottleneck whenever progress is made on one front. This is absolutely *co-evolution*.
