Evolution of Language/Grammar

Guests: Dr. Vyv Evans, Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of Language of the Mind  Cynthia Hallen, Professor of English Language and Linguistics at BYU  We all use it, we all had to learn it, and we all know what it sounds like when its not used the right way. It’s called grammar. Yes, the important topic of grammar. Why we have it? Where did grammar emerge? What's the nature of it in our language. The rules and words behind languages change all the time, but how?  “You read style manuals and they will tell you that there is a fixed grammatical correct way of deploying grammar. But it actual evolves amazing quickly,” says Evans, “at different rates. English has changed dramatically beyond recognition within the past 1,000 years.”  For example,”’Ain’t’ used to be a legal form for the first person,” says Hallen.