Language: UG or Not to Be, That Is the Question
Name
Bolhuis-2015-Language UG.pdf
Size
66.65 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
261f77dafa2add4236a22017d8384eae
Author(s)
Bolhuis, Johan J.
Tattersall, Ian
Berwick, Robert C.
Chomsky, Avram Noam
Date Issued
February 2015
Journal
PLoS Biology
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Citation
Bolhuis, Johan J., Ian Tattersall, Noam Chomsky, and Robert C. Berwick. “Language: UG or Not to Be, That Is the Question.” PLOS Biology 13, no. 2 (February 13, 2015): e1002063.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Lieberman’s commentary [1] nicely illustrates our original argument [2] that analysis of language evolution is complicated by a lack of agreement about the concepts of both “language” and “evolution.” Here we address each in turn. First, Lieberman argues against the existence of a language faculty in the sense in which we defined it: a domain- and species-specific computational cognitive system that can generate arbitrarily complex hierarchical syntactic structure. In contrast, Lieberman defines language functionally, as a means of “communication,” with human speech as a “key attribute.” However, as we originally argued [2], while externalized language may be used for communication, the two cannot be equated. Language is a computational operation occurring in the mind of an individual, independent of its possible communicative use, while speech is one possible externalization of language (among others such as sign) and is not an essential aspect of it. Lieberman’s arguments are a prime example of fallaciously confounding the function(s) of a trait with its mechanism [3,4].
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002063
