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Updated: Jul 16, 2026
05:35
Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Innateness and culture in the evolution of language
Simon Kirby1, Mike Dowman, Thomas L Griffiths
1School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 40 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL, United Kingdom. simon@ling.ed.ac.uk
Summary
Cultural transmission can amplify weak innate biases, creating strong linguistic universals. This process offers an alternative explanation for language properties, challenging traditional nativist and adaptationist views.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary linguistics
- Cognitive science
- Cultural evolution
Background:
- Human language emerges from biological evolution, individual learning, and cultural transmission.
- The interplay between these factors, particularly cultural transmission's role, remains understudied.
- Traditional explanations for language universals often rely on innate constraints or adaptationist pressures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a formal framework for analyzing cultural transmission in language.
- To investigate the relationship between innate learning biases and universal language properties.
- To explore alternative explanations for linguistic universals beyond nativism and adaptationism.
Main Methods:
- Formal modeling of cultural transmission processes.
- Analysis of how learning biases interact with transmission dynamics.
- Simulation of evolutionary and cultural scenarios.
Main Results:
- Cultural transmission can magnify weak innate biases, leading to strong linguistic universals.
- This magnification process can shield innate biases from natural selection, allowing genetic drift.
- Apparent linguistic adaptations can arise through cultural transmission even without natural selection.
Conclusions:
- Cultural transmission plays a crucial role in shaping language universals.
- It provides a viable alternative to nativist and adaptationist explanations for language properties.
- Understanding cultural transmission is key to a comprehensive theory of human language evolution.
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