Human evolution; Egnor on Chomsky (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, August 06, 2020, 01:08 (1581 days ago) @ David Turell

Very high praise:

https://mindmatters.ai/2020/08/why-linguist-noam-chomsky-is-a-great-scientist-of-our-er...

"...his theory of linguistics is brilliant and represents an anthropological, biological, and even metaphysical insight unrivaled in science since relativity and quantum mechanics. A case can be made that Chomsky’s insights are more profound than even those of modern physics, because they plumb the human soul in ways that physics cannot.

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"The evolutionary question remains unanswered, except that we now know that human language is a recent acquisition—there is good evidence that it arose no earlier than 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, which is very recent in the evolutionary time frame. There is also evidence that it arose abruptly, without any precursor. Suddenly man had language.

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"Language has semantics and syntax. While meanings of words (semantics) does seem to be acquired by a system of trial and reward, syntax (grammar and word order) does not arise this way.

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"Unlike the abundant evidence for trial and error acquisition of semantics in infancy (a baby in an English-speaking family learns to say “cat” when pointing at the house pet), there is not the slightest evidence for “trial and error” syntax acquisition in infancy. Very young children use correct grammar (syntax) from the very beginning of language development. This intrinsic knowledge of grammar happens for all languages, without exception.

"Aside from the utter lack of evidence for a process of trial and error in studies of infant language, Chomsky observed that an infant could not really have the experience needed to explain syntax acquisition that way. Even young children inherently know and use grammar rules. They construct and understand sentences of such consistency, intricacy, and complexity that it is clear that they could not have acquired this knowledge merely through incidental daily experience with language.

"There is no behavioral explanation for the acquisition of grammar. Kids don’t start out with completely random jumbles of words and gradually, by a system of rewards, learn subject and verb predicates. Even very young children come fully equipped with an instinctive knowledge of grammar that is common to all languages—a “language” organ—as Chomsky called it. They learn the meaning of words with use but they instinctively know grammar from birth. (my bold)

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"Syntax and semantics don’t overlap and therefore an infant cannot learn syntax via linkage to the semantic content of words. Meaning can be acquired via the behaviorist paradigm but grammar cannot. Grammar has a structure and internal logic that is not learned by young children—toddlers don’t study sentence structure and it is far too profound and complex to be acquired as a spandrel by just listening to the spoken language of others. Human beings, alone among animals, know correct grammar from birth, before they have spoken or heard a single word.

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"Chomsky’s insight that language is an in-born “organ” unique to humans is of obvious relevance to our understanding of human exceptionalism. Chomsky showed that no animal has language of any sort and that human language did not evolve from animal behavior and is not acquired by a behavioral system of rewards and punishments. This is not to say that non-human animals do not link meanings to sounds—they certainly do—but animals do not structure their sounds and gestures syntactically. Animals have no grammar, and grammar is the hallmark of language.

"In Wilhelm von Humboldt’s famous insight, grammar is what enables language to “[make] infinite use of finite means.” By that, he means that we can generate an infinite number of sentences—and express an infinite number of ideas—from a finite number of grammatical rules. This echoes Aristotle’s beautiful aphorism on the soul—that “the soul is, in a way, all things.” Only humans are born with a language organ, whatever material (or immaterial) form it takes and this organ distinguishes us fundamentally from animals."

Comment: this inborn ability in our brain did not arise naturally. Note the bold. It had to be designed into the functionality of the brain that embryologically appears in young children. What is left out to fit Neil's posting limits is Chomsky's nonsense sentences that make sense and ones that don't, to prove his theory. Please read the discussion about them. Fabulous brilliance!! Here is a proper syntax nonsense sentence: "colorless green ideas sleep furiously." Here is an improper one: "furiously sleep ideas green colorless."