Grammar and biology are two separate worlds.
Yet they might just reflect a community's common history.
In a recent study, researchers worked with people in Northeast Asia. The team compared the genomes of these populations with their grammar and music. They found that grammar reflects population history more closely than music.
The study is pioneering our knowledge of how cultures and genetics evolve - possibly, hand in hand.
Does our biology reflect the same history as our culture? Biologically, we are the product of our evolution. And as people, we have always been on the move. Some communities split up. Others joined. In all this, we have created a legacy of languages and cultural traditions the world over. Do we pass culture from one community to another, from one generation to another, in the same way as we pass our genes?
Studies like this are giving us our first answers.
Original article:
What If Our History Was Written In Our Grammar?
Original study:
Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in northeast Asia