Is wittiness a kind of fitness? Ljiljana Progovac explores the idea that quick-wittedness—using and combining words in a clever and funny way—has been actively selected for in humans from the dawn of language. Progovac explores how wit could have emerged as soon as the earliest grammar allowed for novel or unexpected word combinations. Verb-noun compounds, an ancient but now largely moribund construction of verb+noun, create expressive nouns in multiple languages, as in “killjoy” or “pickpocket.” Such compounds are often funny, frequently coarse, and many are short-lived. Neural imaging suggests that verb-noun compounds produce a more vivid and visceral effect than the more common formations such as “joy killer” or “pocket picker.” According to the author, skilled deployers of such compounds could have had higher reproductive fitness than less witty individuals, and their descendants could have created still more complicated grammatical rules with which to showcase their wit.
PNAS Nexus
Survival of the wittiest (not friendliest): The art and science behind human linguistic and cognitive evolution
31-Mar-2026