Language as shaped by the brain¶
Christiansen, M. H., & Chater, N. (2008). Language as shaped by the brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(5), 489-509.
Cited by¶
1 citation across 1 artifact.
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Primes¶
- Coevolution
- Linguistics & cognition: Languages and the minds that learn them adapt to each other across generations — learnability biases in learners shape which grammatical structures survive transmission, while the surviving structures shape the cognition of the next generation of learners, a feedback loop Christiansen and Chater (2008) framed as language being shaped by the brain rather than the brain by language.
This sourceArgues that language is shaped by severe selectional pressure from successive generations of learners/users — apparently arbitrary linguistic structure results from general learning and processing biases — so grammars adapt to the brain rather than the brain to language.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The abstract backs one-way shaping — language fitted to the brain, not vice versa, via learning/processing biases over generations — but not a mutual minds–languages feedback loop.
“Instead, the original motivation for UG – the mesh between learners and languages – arises because language has been shaped to fit the human brain, rather than vice versa. Following Darwin, we view language itself as a complex and interdependent “organism,” which evolves under selectional pressures from human learning and processing mechanisms. That is, languages themselves are shaped by severe selectional pressure …”
- Linguistics & cognition: Languages and the minds that learn them adapt to each other across generations — learnability biases in learners shape which grammatical structures survive transmission, while the surviving structures shape the cognition of the next generation of learners, a feedback loop Christiansen and Chater (2008) framed as language being shaped by the brain rather than the brain by language.
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