The biological model

[sman]

[url=http://hum.uchicago.edu/~jriggle/LANGUAGE_EVOLUTION.pdf][/url]

http://hum.uchicago.edu/~jriggle/LANGUAGE_EVOLUTION.pdf

 

This is a link to a PDF entitled "Language Speciation...the population genetics way"

So it's becoming vogue again to think of languages in a biological way. I think memetics is a good resolution of this, but I'm not real comfortable with the terminology. I'm very caution to treat evolution as an analogy for linguistic change and nothing more.

 

All that being said... are there language breeding grounds (like highland New Guinea or post-roman Europe) analogous of some of the rapid biological speciation events (like Lk Victorian cichlid fish or birds/reptiles in isolated island chains) The conditions for biological speciation are understood fairly well (isolation of populations without complete halt of gene flow and the like). Is it time to apply this to language. I think this may have immediate application in social and corporate policy making.