specifically linked to the evolution of Merge, not language at large. More con-
cretely, the domain-specific Action Merge first evolved into a domain-general
combinatorial capacity (General Merge), from which many domain-specific
capacities, including Merge, derived in the manner of descent with modifica-
tion (Figure 9.4).
Merge then applied to the already existing rudimentary forms of the lexicon
(protolexicon), the CI system (proto-CI) and the SM system (proto-SM) at the
stage of protolanguage, reorganizing them into the kind of hierarchical systems
which characterize modern human language. This, then, is the Merge-only
model of human language evolution, a radical instantiation of the minimalist
approach to language evolution, which says that Merge is the only innovation
you need for creating human language, with everything else following from
Merge applying to these preexisting faculties (Figure 9.5).
The two problems of language evolution mentioned in section 3 (see Figure 9.3)
can now be addressed in a systematic way. Every component of language, includ-
ing Merge, had a precursor originally unrelated to language, and the emergence
of uniquely human Merge allowed other components to evolve into equally
unique systems. The formation of the interfaces took place almost automatically,
as a reflex of the Merge-triggered evolution of the relevant systems; since Merge
transformed these systems into what they are, it inevitably interfaces with them.
Figure 9.4 Motor control origin of Merge.
Figure 9.5 Merge-only evolution of human language.
Fallacies in evolutionary linguistics 149