# Language Is an Organism Shaped by Each Generation of Learners by Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater > “Following Darwin, we view language itself as a complex and interdependent “organism,” which evolves under selectional pressures from human learning and processing mechanisms. That is, languages themselves are shaped by severe selectional pressure from each generation of language users and learners.” > **— Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater**, *“Language as shaped by the brain,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2008* ## Sources and Context - **Primary source:** Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater, [“Language as shaped by the brain”](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/language-as-shaped-by-the-brain/EA4ABB50915417A1A10569707F574F5E), *Behavioral and Brain Sciences* 31:5 (2008), 489–509, abstract; abstract text also in the [Warwick Research Archive](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/44466/). - **Exact original:** “Following Darwin, we view language itself as a complex and interdependent "organism," which evolves under selectional pressures from human learning and processing mechanisms. That is, languages themselves are shaped by severe selectional pressure from each generation of language users and learners.” The Reminder uses typographic quotation marks around *organism*; the words are unchanged. - **Context:** The abstract argues that a biologically fixed Universal Grammar could not have evolved because language changes faster than genes, and concludes that “language has been shaped to fit the human brain, rather than vice versa.” - **Article use:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] uses the passage as the scientific form of the corpus's parasitic-interface thesis: language is a replicator adapted to its hosts, so whoever fixes its reference edition shapes what the hosts find thinkable. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/War With Empire|War With Empire]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] - **Article:** [[articles/Cognitive Liberation Through Superior Parasitic Capture and Oppression|Cognitive Liberation Through Superior Parasitic Capture and Oppression]] - **Article:** [[articles/Kybernetik Anthropology and The Colonial Architecture of Digital Intelligence|Kybernetik Anthropology and The Colonial Architecture of Digital Intelligence]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Language|Language]] - [[wiki/Superior Parasitic Capture|Superior Parasitic Capture]] - [[wiki/Parasitism|Parasitism]] - [[wiki/Linguistic Relativity|Linguistic Relativity]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Following Darwin, we view language itself as a complex and interdependent “organism,” which evolves under selectional pressures from human learning and processing mechanisms. That is, languages themselves are shaped by severe selectional pressure from each generation of language users and learners.” — Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater, “Language as shaped by the brain,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2008 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-morten-christiansen-language-organism-shaped-by-learners ```