The process of “replicating” language over time is imperfect, and it’s shaped by input from parents, siblings, peers and the larger community.
Though it’s generally accepted that languages evolve according to natural selection (a sort of Darwinism for words), University of Pennsylvania biology professor Joshua Plotkin recently applied the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of linguistics, and he made a good case for why language, like genes, can change at random. Just like gene mutation, languages transform as they’re passed down from one generation or geographical region to the next: a process known as linguistic drift. The process of “replicating” language over time is imperfect, and it’s shaped by input from parents, siblings, peers and the larger community.