exaptation

== English == === Etymology === Blend of ex- +‎ adaptation. Coined 1982 by palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba to avoid the perceived teleological baggage of the existing term preadaptation. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɛk.səpˈteɪ.ʃən/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˌɛk.sæpˈteɪ.ʃən/ Rhymes: -eɪʃən === Noun === exaptation (countable and uncountable, plural exaptations) (biology, evolutionary theory) The use of a biological structure or function for a purpose other than that for which it initially evolved. (linguistics, by extension) The promotion of meaningless or redundant material so that it does new grammatical (morphosyntactic or phonological) or semantic work. 2017, Eric Haeberli, Review of Ledgeway & Roberts (eds.) (2017), Cambridge Handbook of Historical Syntax, Journal of Historical Syntax, Volume 3, Article 4, 2019, PDF edition page 2 The process Haiman focuses on is exaptation, which he defines as "the promotion of meaningless or redundant material so that it does new grammatical (morphosyntactic or phonological) or semantic work" (p52). ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === See also === preadaptation === References === Paul McGarr, Stephen Rose, editors (2006), The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould, Jonathan Cape, →ISBN