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The Biological Roots of Universal GrammarW Tecumseh Fitch, University of Vienna Although most scholars agree that the human capacity to acquire language rests upon a species-specific biological basis, the nature of this basis remains sharply debated. I will suggest that several features differentiate humans from chimpanzees in this respect, including vocal learning, complex syntax, and a drive to communicate. However, at least some of these abilities have evolved convergently and are found in more distant relatives such as birds. This opens these features to comparative study. Regarding semantics in particular it seems that human conceptual abilities rest upon a deep and broadly shared cognitive "toolkit" whose components can be observed in many other species. Thus, although human language appears to be unique as a whole, many if not most of its individual components can be found individually in other species, and it may be that we are simply the only species lucky enough to have all of them. While this does not decrease the uniqueness of human linguistic abilities, it does make them more amenable to biological study. [pdf] |
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Letztes Update: 17. März 2014 |
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