An alternative mechanism?
l Some problems with the evolutionary nativism position:
ˇ Doesn’t really explain why language is unique
ˇ Not specific about how natural selection is going to work
ˇ Is everything in language optimally tailored?
ˇ Are there alternative mechanisms?
l A new hypothesis:
Language itself is an evolutionary system. Understanding
linguistic evolution may explain some of the structure of
language without a strongly constraining innate LAD, or
biological evolution through natural selection.