Language Ability

“Once language ability started to be selected for to promote coalition building, other selective pressures probably began to operate. One of these was probably runaway sexual selection. In runaway sexual selection the females would come to select males on the basis of their language ability. Language ability, because of its interfacing nature, allows one individual to readily make some assessment of certain cognitive abilities in the other. Through this mechanism, females cannot only select for mates with good language abilities, but also those who have somewhat higher intelligence. Males, in turn, with good language skills could use these abilities to exploit tendencies of females to be enamoured of males with high language abilities. With the advent of language, linguistic deception, or lying, was almost certainly soon to follow. Males could conceivably promise commitment and resources and not necessarily follow through with these. This would have set up an arms race in which females would have had to develop better and better detection skills for spotting male deception. This, no doubt, set up a runaway arms race for even greater language abilities and for even greater mental abilities.”