On the Coevolution of Cultural and Linguistic Traits

ABSTRACT This paper examines the roots of the coevolution of cultural and linguistic traits. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that geographical characteristics conducive to the emergence of fundamental cultural traits triggered the evolution of complementary linguistic traits, thereby reinforcing their adaptation process. In particular, (i) higher caloric returns to agriculture, which fostered engagement in farming and the evolution of long-term orientation, have been conducive to the prevalence of periphrastic future tense; (ii) land suitability for plough use, which generated gender gaps in agricultural productivity and entrenched gender bias in society, has been associated with the existence of sex-based grammatical gender; and (iii) ecological diversity, which promoted the establishment of hierarchical societies, has been conducive to the presence of politeness distinctions.