Some Language Preferences May Be Genetic (6/1/2007)

The distribution of tone languages in the Old World populations studied in the paper. Each square represents one population: yellow stands for non-tone languages and gray for tone languages. - Photo Courtesy: University of Edinburgh

Genetic differences may influence the type of language spoken by different human groups, according to University researchers.

Dan Dediu, who recently completed his PhD on language evolution, and D. Robert Ladd, Professor of Linguistics, demonstrated a statistical link between population genetics and the geographical distribution of ‘tonal’ languages in the world.

In tonal languages (such as Chinese or Zulu) pitch differences affect the meaning of words, whereas in non-tonal languages (such as English or French) pitch only affects meaning at the sentence level (like questioning).

The researchers showed that groups of people who carry recently evolved versions of two genes for brain development, ASPM and Microcephalin, tend to speak non-tonal languages.

They suggest that the different forms of these genes might create subtle biases in individual brains which over many generations could influence the historical development of languages spoken by different groups.

The recent spread of the ‘derived’ forms of these two genes was reported in 2005 by a research team in Chicago, which has led to much research worldwide trying to understand the precise function of these genes.

Dediu and Ladd's paper opens up a new line of research possibilities. The researchers emphasise that so far all they have demonstrated is a correlation, but hope that planned future experiments will shed light on the details of the individual biases.

The research is published in the latest edition of the American science journal, PNAS.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Edinburgh

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