PS263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously, Universal Grammar, Noam Chomsky
Document Summary
Evolution of language: the adaptive benefits are obvious. Communication, cooperation, coordination, culture : physiological requirements: Language requires a wide range of sounds. Adaptations to the larynx: may predispose us to choking, also requires social adaptations: Language needs to be learned (from a teacher) Language skills: chomsky suggested that syntax is separate from content, and can be studied separately. Suggested we have an innate universal grammar (ug: framework for all languages, enables us to learn languages without explicit training, language is unique to humans, languages must be. I know that you know that i expect you to study for the exam . Is language uniquely human: apes can be taught sign language: Only learn 100-250 words or signs over years of training. Rarely make spontaneous utterances of more than one sign. [more on this next slide: humans: Children learn thousands of words a year for many years (about 60,000 by the end of high-school)
