Evolutionary nativism
lWhy is the Language Acquisition Device the
way it is?
lThe evolutionary psychology position: (Pinker & Bloom 1990)
lLanguage is the way it is because natural
selection favoured individuals
who were able to learn languages that were useful for communication.
“Grammar is a complex mechanism
tailored to the transmission of propositional
structures through a serial interface.”
“Evolutionary theory
offers clear criteria for when a trait should be attributed to natural selection: complex design for some function, and the absence of alternative processes capable of explaining such complexity. Human language meets these criteria.”