The Evolution of Tag-Based Cooperation in Humans: The Case for Accent/Comments/Reply

• Published in: Current anthropology Vol. 53; no. 5; p. 588
• Main Authors: Cohen, Emma, Atkinson, Quentin D, Dediu, Dan, Dingemanse, Mark, Kinzler, Katherine D, Ladd, D Robert, Hall-Lew, Lauren, Traulsen, Arne, García, Julián, Trudgill, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago University of Chicago, acting through its Press 01-10-2012
• Subjects: Cooperation; Dialects; Linguistics
• ISSN: 0011-3204; 1537-5382

Recent game-theoretic simulation and analytical models have demonstrated that cooperative strategies mediated by indicators of cooperative potential, or "tags," can invade, spread, and resist invasion by noncooperators across a range of population-structure and cost-benefit scenarios. The plausibility of these models is potentially relevant for human evolutionary accounts insofar as humans possess some phenotypic trait that could serve as a reliable tag. Linguistic markers, such as accent and dialect, have frequently been either cursorily defended or promptly dismissed as satisfying the criteria of a reliable and evolutionarily viable tag. This paper integrates evidence from a range of disciplines to develop and assess the claim that speech accent mediated the evolution of tag-based cooperation in humans. Existing evidence warrants the preliminary conclusion that accent markers meet the demands of an evolutionarily viable tag and potentially afforded a cost-effective solution to the challenges of maintaining viable cooperative relationships in diffuse, regional social networks. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]