We make the case that, contra standard assumption in linguistic theory, the sound systems of human languages are adapted to their environment. While not conclusive, this plausible case rests on several points discussed in this work: First, human behavior is generally adaptive and the assumption that this characteristic does not extend to linguistic structure is empirically unsubstantiated. Second, animal communication systems are well known to be adaptive within species across a variety of phyla and taxa. Third, research in laryngology demonstrates clearly that ambient desiccation impacts the performance of the human vocal cords. The latter point motivates a clear, testable hypothesis with respect to the synchronic global distribution of language types. Fourth, this hypothesis is supported in our own previous work, and here we discuss new approaches being developed to further explore the hypothesis. We conclude by suggesting that the time has come to more substantively examine the possibility that linguistic sound systems are adapted to their physical ecology.

中文翻译：

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语言进化和气候：干燥和语气的案例

我们认为，与语言理论中的标准假设相反，人类语言的声音系统适应了它们的环境。虽然不是结论性的，但这个似是而非的案例基于这项工作中讨论的几个要点：首先，人类行为通常是适应性的，并且这种特征不会扩展到语言结构的假设在经验上是没有根据的。其次，众所周知，动物交流系统在跨各种门和分类群的物种内具有适应性。第三，喉科研究清楚地表明，环境干燥会影响人类声带的性能。后一点激发了关于语言类型的同步全球分布的清晰、可检验的假设。第四，这个假设在我们之前的工作中得到了支持，在这里，我们讨论正在开发的新方法，以进一步探索该假设。我们得出的结论是，现在是更深入地研究语言声音系统适应其物理生态的可能性的时候了。