Returning language to culture by way of biology

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Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32 (5):460-461 (2009)
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Abstract

Conflation of our unique human endowment for language with innate, so-called universal, grammar has banished language from its biological home. The facts reviewed by Evans & Levinson (E&L) fit the biology of cultural transmission. My commentary highlights our dedicated learning capacity for vocal production learning as the form of our language endowment compatible with those facts.

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10.1017/s0140525x09990707

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Citations of this work

Speech, vocal production learning, and the comparative method.Bjorn Merker - 2014 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 37 (6):566-567.

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References found in this work

The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex.Charles Darwin - 1898 - New York: Plume. Edited by Carl Zimmer.
Language as shaped by the brain.Morten H. Christiansen & Nick Chater - 2008 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31 (5):489-509.

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