A 65-year-old linguistics framework challenged by modern research

 https://phys.org/news/2025-11-year-linguistics-framework-modern.html

"In a re-evaluation of Hockett's foundational features that have long dominated linguistic theory—concepts like "arbitrariness," "duality of patterning," and "displacement"—an international team of linguists and cognitive scientists shows that modern science demands a radical shift in how we understand language and how it evolved."

AU Gemini summary

Summary: Updating Hockett's Foundational Features of Language

​An international team of linguists and cognitive scientists has challenged the 65-year-old linguistics framework established by Charles Hockett in 1960, arguing that modern research demands a radical shift in how we define and understand language.

​📜 The Challenge to Hockett's Features

​Hockett's framework defined language by a set of "design features"—such as arbitrariness (no logical connection between word and meaning), duality of patterning, and displacement (talking about things not present). These features were long considered uniquely human and key to separating human language from animal communication.

​Modern research, however, reveals:

• ​Animal Sophistication: Features once thought exclusively human (like productivity, displacement, and recursive structure) are now found to some extent in animal communication (e.g., dolphins' whistles, birds' complex songs, and apes' gestures).
• ​AI Language: The emergence of Generative AI (like ChatGPT) challenges the idea that language belongs only to biological minds.
• ​Multimodality: Sign languages (including tactile systems like Protactile used by DeafBlind individuals) are recognized as fully-fledged linguistic systems, proving language is not limited to speech.

​The researchers conclude that the true story is not about what features separate humans, but about how language connects us to other species and evolves through use.

​🆕 The New Paradigm: Language as a Dynamic System

​The new framework moves away from a static checklist of "design features" toward a view of language as a dynamic, adaptive, multimodal, and socially embedded system.

​The paper identifies three transformative themes that necessitate this shift:

​1. Multimodality and Semiotic Diversity

• ​Beyond Speech: Languages are signed and can be transmitted through touch.
• ​Iconicity is Essential: Communication is not purely symbolic (arbitrary). Iconicity—where form resembles meaning (e.g., onomatopoeias like "buzz," imitative gestures, and emojis)—is integral to human communication.

• ​Flexibility: Gestures and facial expressions are considered an essential, integrated part of communication, allowing us to make almost any behavior communicative.

​2. Language as Social and Functional

• ​Shared Meaning: Communication is not just about sending a fixed code; it's about creating shared meaning in a context.

• ​Identity and Relationships: Language acts as a signal of identity and can promote closeness or distance between individuals.

• ​Shaping Thought: Language can actively shape our thought processes (e.g., improving color discrimination by learning new color terms).

​3. Language as an Adaptive, Evolving System

• ​Emergent Features: Features like productivity and compositional structure are not static. They arise through social interaction, cultural transmission, and the cumulative interactions of individuals over time.
• ​Adaptation: Languages continually adapt to their social environment, leading to the vast cross-linguistic diversity seen globally.

​🌍 Societal Impact

​The new framework has significant relevance for society and education by:

• ​Challenging Outdated Narratives: Moving beyond textbooks that solely equate language with speech.
• ​Promoting Inclusion: Affirming the legitimacy and complexity of sign languages and non-speech modalities, advancing equity.
• ​Modernizing Education: Providing educators with an updated, modern framework for teaching language evolution and cognition.

​The overall message is that language is a dynamic, embodied, and deeply social act—a living system shaped by how we use it.