Language Acquisition Meets Language Evolution
Language Acquisition Meets Language Evolution
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01049.x
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发表时间：
2010-09-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Christiansen, Morten H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chater, Nick;Christiansen, Morten H.
最近的研究表明，语言进化是一个文化变化的过程，在这个过程中，语言结构是通过领域通用机制的反复学习和使用而形成的。本文引出了这一观点对理解语言习得问题的启示，语言习得问题被赋予了一种新的、更容易处理的形式。本质上，儿童面临的是归纳法问题，其目标是与他人协调(C-归纳法)，而不是模拟自然世界的结构(N-归纳法)。我们认为，在这两种方法中，C-诱导法要容易得多。更广泛地说，我们认为，理解任何文化形式的获得，无论是语言上的还是其他方面的，在发展过程中，都需要考虑相应的问题，即这种文化形式是如何通过文化演变过程产生的。这一观点有助于解决语言习得的“逻辑”问题，并对进化心理学具有深远的影响。
Recent research suggests that language evolution is a process of cultural change, in which linguistic structures are shaped through repeated cycles of learning and use by domain-general mechanisms. This paper draws out the implications of this viewpoint for understanding the problem of language acquisition, which is cast in a new, and much more tractable, form. In essence, the child faces a problem of induction, where the objective is to coordinate with others (C-induction), rather than to model the structure of the natural world (N-induction). We argue that, of the two, C-induction is dramatically easier. More broadly, we argue that understanding the acquisition of any cultural form, whether linguistic or otherwise, during development, requires considering the corresponding question of how that cultural form arose through processes of cultural evolution. This perspective helps resolve the "logical" problem of language acquisition and has far-reaching implications for evolutionary psychology.