A Mind for Language
An Introduction to the Innateness Debate

Illustrated with real-life examples throughout, this book provides a complete introduction to the nature or nurture debate in linguistics.

Harry van der Hulst (Author)

9781108471572, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 September 2023

594 pages
25 x 17.6 x 3.7 cm, 1.17 kg

'… the book provides valuable resources for readers to understand and even participate in the nature-nurture debate. Readers will obtain abundant knowledge about the essence and features of human language and ultimately achieve a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the nature-nurture debate.' Dongrui Jiang, The American Journal of Psychology

How does human language arise in the mind? To what extent is it innate, or something that is learned? How do these factors interact? The questions surrounding how we acquire language are some of the most fundamental about what it means to be human and have long been at the heart of linguistic theory. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to this fascinating debate, unravelling the arguments for the roles of nature and nurture in the knowledge that allows humans to learn and use language. An interdisciplinary approach is used throughout, allowing the debate to be examined from philosophical and cognitive perspectives. It is illustrated with real-life examples and the theory is explained in a clear, easy-to-read way, making it accessible for students, and other readers, without a background in linguistics. An accompanying website contains a glossary, questions for reflection, discussion themes and project suggestions, to further deepen students understanding of the material.

I. Introduction
1. What this book is about
II. The never-ending debate
2. The innateness hypothesis
3. Philosophy of mind
4. Cognitive science
5. Modularity
III. The mental grammar, language universals and language change
6. The organization of the mental grammar
7. Language universals
8. Language change
IV. Language acquisition
9. Language acquisition: the road from input to mental grammar
10. Stages of language acquisition
11. Critical period effects
12. How children create new languages
V. Language in a different modality
13. Sign languages
VI. Winding up
14. Evaluating the arguments: a forum discussion.

Subject Areas: Psycholinguistics [CFD]