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Language, Mind, and Brain by Ewa Dabrowska

Language, Mind, and Brain by Ewa Dabrowska. Chapter 6: Biological underpinnings. 1. A genetically specified language module?. Q: What are the are arguments against a language module in the brain?. 1. A genetically specified language module?.

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Language, Mind, and Brain by Ewa Dabrowska

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  1. Language, Mind, and Brainby Ewa Dabrowska Chapter 6: Biological underpinnings

  2. 1. A genetically specified language module? • Q: What are the are arguments against a language module in the brain?

  3. 1. A genetically specified language module? • Q: What are the are arguments against a language module in the brain? • A: No one can find this language module; human brains are not essentially different from ape brains; there aren’t enough genes to fully determine wiring; brains are plastic.

  4. 2. Human adaptations to language • 2.1 Preadaptations included: • Increase in brain size (until 300K years ago) • Changes in upper respiratory tract, facilitating articulation of sounds

  5. 2.2 Cultural learning and mind-reading • “Cumulative cultural evolution is a necessary condition for language” • Tomasello argues that only humans have this capacity because only humans can understand a goal and learn by imitation.

  6. 2.3 Cortical control… • Q: How do human vocalizations differ from those of animals?

  7. 2.3 Cortical control… • Q: How do human vocalizations differ from those of animals? • A: Rather than merely responding to psychological states, we can consciously control our vocalizations. Also, we can package actions in sequences, which facilitates syntax.

  8. 3. Language adaptations to humans • Q: What is convergent evolution?

  9. 3. Language adaptations to humans • Q: What is convergent evolution? • A: The spontaneous and independent evolution of similar features in language, given the biases of human perception and cognition • “languages independently come to resemble each other, not in detail, but in terms of certain general structural properties”

  10. 3. Language adaptations to humans • Q: What do we know about absolute universals?

  11. 3. Language adaptations to humans • Q: What do we know about absolute universals? • A: They are hard to find and uninteresting. Cross-linguistic patterns are more interesting and explainable due to things like pressures of processing, discourse, and general preference for iconic structures.

  12. 4.1 Problems with poverty-of-stimulus argument • Q: What does Universal Grammar assume?

  13. 4.1 Problems with poverty-of-stimulus argument • Q: What does Universal Grammar assume? • A: Human language has certain universal properties that cannot be learned because children do not have access to sufficient input.

  14. 4.1 Problems with poverty-of-stimulus argument • Q: What is wrong with these assumptions?

  15. 4.1 Problems with poverty-of-stimulus argument • Q: What is wrong with these assumptions? • A: They are just that – assumptions, and often do not hold up to empirical study. The stimulus is not impoverished, and there are things not in UG that have to be learned too…

  16. 5. Conclusions • Language is an evolutionary late-comer that piggybacks on structures evolved for other purposes. A theory of language should minimize postulations of language-specific adaptations.

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