Christiansen, Morten H. and Chater, Nick (2015) The language faculty that wasn't : a usage-based account of natural language recursion. Frontiers in Psychology, 6 . 1182. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01182 ISSN 1664-1078.
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Abstract
In the generative tradition, the language faculty has been shrinking—perhaps to include only the mechanism of recursion. This paper argues that even this view of the language faculty is too expansive. We first argue that a language faculty is difficult to reconcile with evolutionary considerations. We then focus on recursion as a detailed case study, arguing that our ability to process recursive structure does not rely on recursion as a property of the grammar, but instead emerges gradually by piggybacking on domain-general sequence learning abilities. Evidence from genetics, comparative work on non-human primates, and cognitive neuroscience suggests that humans have evolved complex sequence learning skills, which were subsequently pressed into service to accommodate language. Constraints on sequence learning therefore have played an important role in shaping the cultural evolution of linguistic structure, including our limited abilities for processing recursive structure. Finally, we re-evaluate some of the key considerations that have often been taken to require the postulation of a language faculty.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Psycholinguistics, Language and culture, Historical linguistics |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Publisher: | Frontiers Research Foundation |
| ISSN: | 1664-1078 |
| Official Date: | 27 August 2015 |
| Dates: | Date Event 27 August 2015 Available 27 July 2015 Accepted 5 May 2015 Submitted |
| Volume: | 6 |
| Article Number: | 1182 |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01182 |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons open licence) |
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 14 January 2016 |
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 23 February 2016 |
| Funder: | United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, European Research Council (ERC), Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust (LT), Research Councils UK (RCUK) |
| Grant number: | 2011107 (BSF), 95917-RATIONALITY (ERC), EP/K039830/1 (RCUK) |
| URI: | https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/75681/ |
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