Humans learn complex grammatical patterns even in extremely challenging circumstances

(Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History) A large-scale study of languages shows that the grammar of creoles -- which emerged in multilingual situations of extreme social upheaval, like colonial slaveries -- are composed from the grammars of other languages that preceded them rather than being innovated from scratch. The study, published today in Nature Human Behavior, analyzed a large number of creole and non-creole languages to reveal the robustness of language transmission proce