Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

CHOMSKY’S PROBLEM: EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE

Year 2021, , 598 - 614, 01.12.2021
https://doi.org/10.32321/cutad.954455

Abstract

Noam Chomsky (1928- ) is one of the most important theorists of contemporary linguistics in the post-Saussurean era. Universal Grammar developed by Chomsky after the 1950s is still an influential theory. Studying language with the methods of natural sciences has been a significant goal for Chomsky who is a pioneer in the mathematical analysis of language. He is also considered as the founder of biolinguistics, which includes the biological study of language. In this article, Noam Chomsky's views on the evolution of language are discussed. In the article, Chomsky’s own labelling such as “Plato’s Problem” and “Darwin’s Problem” regarding other thinkers is used for Chomsky’s model of language evolution. The outlines of this model are presented and its critical aspects are evaluated.

References

  • Arbib, M. A. and Bickerton, D. (2010). The emergence of protolanguage: Holophrasis vs compositionality. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  • Berwick, R. C. and Chomsky, N. (2016). Why only us: Language and evolution. The MIT Press.
  • Berwick, R. C., Friederici, A. D., Chomsky, N. and Bolhuis, J. J. (2013). Evolution, brain, and the nature of language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(2), 98.
  • Bickerton, D. (2007). Language evolution: A brief guide for linguists. Lingua, 117(3), 510–526.
  • Bickerton, D. (2012). Ademin dili: İnsan lisanı nasıl yarattı, lisan insanı nasıl yarattı? (Doğan, M., Çev.). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınevi.
  • Boeckx, C. (2009). The nature of merge: Consequences for language, mind, and biology. Of minds and language. A dialogue with Noam Chomsky in the Basque country içinde (44–57) (Piattelli-Palmarini, M., Uriagereka, J. and Salaburu, P., Ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Boeckx, C. (2017). Not only us. Inference Intern. Rev. Sci.
  • Chomsky, N. (1966). Cartesian linguistics. Harper & Row.
  • Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. The MIT Press.
  • Chomsky, N. (2005). Three factors in language design. Linguistic Inquiry, 36(1), 1–22.
  • Chomsky, N. (2009). Bilgi sorunları ve dil: Managua dersleri (Kılıç, V., Çev.). Bgst Yayınları.
  • Chomsky, N. (2014). Dilin mimarisi (Bayırlı, İ. K., Çev.). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Chomsky, N. (2016). Doğa ve dil üzerine (Karadağ, A. B., Çev.). Sözcükler.
  • Chomsky, N. (2019). Dil ve zihin incelemelerinde yeni ufuklar (çev. A. F. Aydar). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Chomsky, N. and McGilvray, J. (2012). The science of language: Interviews with James McGilvray. Cambridge University Press.
  • Chomsky, N. and Otero, C. P. (2013). Demokrasi ve eğitim ( Otero, C. P., Ed.) (E. Abadoğlu vd., Çev.). Bgst Yayınları.
  • Christiansen, M. H. and Chater, N. (2016). Creating language. Integrating evolution, acquisition, and processing. MIT Press.
  • Corballis, M. C. (2014). Kendini yineleyen zihin: İnsan dilinin, düşüncesinin ve uygarlığının kökenleri (Birsen, A., Çev.). Alfa Yayınları.
  • Dąbrowska, E. (2015). What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it? Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 852.
  • Deacon, T. W. (1997). The symbolic species. The co-evolution of language and the brain. W.W. Norton.
  • Dediu, D. and Levinson, S. C. (2013). On the antiquity of language: The reinterpretation of neandertal linguistic capacities and its consequences. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(JUL), 1–17.
  • Dediu, D. and Levinson, S. C. (2018). Neanderthal language revisited: Not only us. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 21, 49–55.
  • Evans, N. and Levinson, S. C. (2009a). The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32 (5), 429–492.
  • Evans, N. and Levinson, S. C. (2009b). With diversity in mind: Freeing the language sciences from Universal Grammar. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5), 472–492.
  • Evans, V. (2020). Dil miti. Dil neden bir içgüdü değildir (Doğan M., Çev.). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Everett, D. (2005). Cultural constraints on grammar and cognition in Pirahã. Current Anthropology, 76(4), 621-646.
  • Everett, D. (2009). Pirahã culture and grammar: A response to some criticisms. Language, 85(2), 405–442.
  • Friederici, A. D., Chomsky, N., Berwick, R. C., Moro, A. and Bolhuis, J. J. (2017). Language, mind and brain. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(10), 713–722.
  • Fujita, H. and Fujita, K. (2021). Human language evolution: A view from theoretical linguistics on how syntax and the lexicon first came into being. Primates, 1, 3.
  • Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N. and Fitch, W. T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298, 1569–1579.
  • Hauser, M. D., Yang, C., Berwick, R. C., Tattersall, I., Ryan, M. J., Watumull, J., Chomsky, N. and Lewontin, R. C. (2014). The mystery of language evolution. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 401.
  • Ibbotson, P. and Tomasello, M. (2016). Evidence rebuts Chomsky’s theory of language learning. Scientific American, 315, 70–75.
  • Johansson, S. (2015). Language abilities in Neanderthals. Annual Review of Linguistics, 1(1), 311–332.
  • Katz, J. J. (1996). The unfinished Chomskyan revolution. Mind & Language, 11(3), 270–294.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2018). Dilin kökeni arayışları 3: hayvan iletişimi-I. Dil Araştırmaları, 23, 23–56.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2019). Dilin kökeni arayışları 3: hayvan iletişimi-II. Dil Araştırmaları, 24, 43–73.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2020). Neandertaller konuşur muydu? İnsanın ve dilin kökenine bir yolculuk. Varyant Yayınları.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2021). Chomsky Darwin’e Karşı: Evrensel Dilbilgisi, Dilin Kökeni ve Evrim Tartışmaları. Varyant Yayınları.
  • Lakoff, G. (1973). Deep Language. The New York Review of Books.
  • Levine, R. D. and Postal, P. M. (2004). A corrupted linguistics. The Anti Chomsky Reader içinde (203–231) (Collier, P. and Horrowitz, D., Ed.). Encounter Books.
  • Lieberman, P. (2016). The evolution of language and thought. Journal of anthropological sciences = Rivista di antropologia : JASS, 94, 127–146.
  • Martins, P. T. and Boeckx, C. (2019). Language evolution and complexity considerations: The no half-Merge fallacy. PLOS Biology, 17(11), e3000389.
  • Newmeyer, F. J. (2003). What can the field of linguistics tell us about the origins of language?. Language Evolution içinde (58–76) (M. Christiansen, H. ve Kirby, S., Ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Pinker, S. (2018). Dil içgüdüsü: Zihin dili nasıl meydana getirir? (İlgün, F., Çev.). Bilge Kültür Sanat Yayınları. Pinker, S. and Bloom, P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Brain and Behavioural Science, 13, 707–784.
  • Pinker, S. and Jackendoff, R. (2005). The faculty of language: What’s special about it? Cognition, 95(2), 201–236.
  • Postal, P. M. (2009). The incoherence of Chomsky’s “biolinguistic” ontology. Biolinguistics 3, 1, 104–123.
  • Pullum, G. K. and Scholz, B. C. (2002). Empirical assessment of stimulus poverty arguments. Linguistic Review, 18(1–2), 9–50.
  • Ramachandran, V. (2015). Öykücü beyin. Bir nöroloğun bizi insan kılanın ne olduğuna dair arayışı (Çevik, A. C., Çev). Alfa.
  • Sampson, G. (2002). Exploring the richness of the stimulus. Linguistic Review, 18(1–2), 73–104.
  • Seuren, P. (2004). Chomsky’s minimalism. Oxford University Press.
  • Tomasello, M. (2009). Universal grammar is dead. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5), 470–471.
  • Tremblay, P. and Dick, A. S. (2016). Broca and Wernicke are dead, or moving past the classic model of language neurobiology. Brain and Language, 162, 60–71.

CHOMSKY’NİN PROBLEMİ: DİLİN EVRİMİ

Year 2021, , 598 - 614, 01.12.2021
https://doi.org/10.32321/cutad.954455

Abstract

Noam Chomsky (1928- ), Saussure sonrası dönemde çağdaş dilbilimin en önemli teorisyeni olarak kabul edilir. 1950’lerden sonra geliştirdiği Evrensel Dilbilgisi hâlâ etkili bir teoridir. Dili doğa bilimlerinin yöntemleri ile incelenmek Chomsky için en önemli hedeflerden biri olmuştur. Dilin matematiksel analizi konusunda öncü isim Noam Chomsky’dir. Yine dilin biyolojik yönden incelenmesini içeren biyo-dilbilimin de kurucusu olarak Chomsky gösterilir. Bu makalede dünya dilbilim tarihinin en önemli isimlerinden biri olan Noam Chomsky’nin özellikle 2000’li yıllar sonrasında dilin evrimi meselesine bakışı ele alınmaktadır. Makalede Chomsky’nin başka düşünürler için kullandığı bir etiketleme (“Platon’un Problemi”, “Darwin’in Problemi” vb.) Chomsky’nin dilin evrimi modeli için kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada söz konusu modelin ana hatları sunulmakta ve modele yöneltilen eleştiriler değerlendirilmektedir.

References

  • Arbib, M. A. and Bickerton, D. (2010). The emergence of protolanguage: Holophrasis vs compositionality. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  • Berwick, R. C. and Chomsky, N. (2016). Why only us: Language and evolution. The MIT Press.
  • Berwick, R. C., Friederici, A. D., Chomsky, N. and Bolhuis, J. J. (2013). Evolution, brain, and the nature of language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(2), 98.
  • Bickerton, D. (2007). Language evolution: A brief guide for linguists. Lingua, 117(3), 510–526.
  • Bickerton, D. (2012). Ademin dili: İnsan lisanı nasıl yarattı, lisan insanı nasıl yarattı? (Doğan, M., Çev.). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınevi.
  • Boeckx, C. (2009). The nature of merge: Consequences for language, mind, and biology. Of minds and language. A dialogue with Noam Chomsky in the Basque country içinde (44–57) (Piattelli-Palmarini, M., Uriagereka, J. and Salaburu, P., Ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Boeckx, C. (2017). Not only us. Inference Intern. Rev. Sci.
  • Chomsky, N. (1966). Cartesian linguistics. Harper & Row.
  • Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. The MIT Press.
  • Chomsky, N. (2005). Three factors in language design. Linguistic Inquiry, 36(1), 1–22.
  • Chomsky, N. (2009). Bilgi sorunları ve dil: Managua dersleri (Kılıç, V., Çev.). Bgst Yayınları.
  • Chomsky, N. (2014). Dilin mimarisi (Bayırlı, İ. K., Çev.). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Chomsky, N. (2016). Doğa ve dil üzerine (Karadağ, A. B., Çev.). Sözcükler.
  • Chomsky, N. (2019). Dil ve zihin incelemelerinde yeni ufuklar (çev. A. F. Aydar). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Chomsky, N. and McGilvray, J. (2012). The science of language: Interviews with James McGilvray. Cambridge University Press.
  • Chomsky, N. and Otero, C. P. (2013). Demokrasi ve eğitim ( Otero, C. P., Ed.) (E. Abadoğlu vd., Çev.). Bgst Yayınları.
  • Christiansen, M. H. and Chater, N. (2016). Creating language. Integrating evolution, acquisition, and processing. MIT Press.
  • Corballis, M. C. (2014). Kendini yineleyen zihin: İnsan dilinin, düşüncesinin ve uygarlığının kökenleri (Birsen, A., Çev.). Alfa Yayınları.
  • Dąbrowska, E. (2015). What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it? Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 852.
  • Deacon, T. W. (1997). The symbolic species. The co-evolution of language and the brain. W.W. Norton.
  • Dediu, D. and Levinson, S. C. (2013). On the antiquity of language: The reinterpretation of neandertal linguistic capacities and its consequences. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(JUL), 1–17.
  • Dediu, D. and Levinson, S. C. (2018). Neanderthal language revisited: Not only us. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 21, 49–55.
  • Evans, N. and Levinson, S. C. (2009a). The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32 (5), 429–492.
  • Evans, N. and Levinson, S. C. (2009b). With diversity in mind: Freeing the language sciences from Universal Grammar. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5), 472–492.
  • Evans, V. (2020). Dil miti. Dil neden bir içgüdü değildir (Doğan M., Çev.). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Everett, D. (2005). Cultural constraints on grammar and cognition in Pirahã. Current Anthropology, 76(4), 621-646.
  • Everett, D. (2009). Pirahã culture and grammar: A response to some criticisms. Language, 85(2), 405–442.
  • Friederici, A. D., Chomsky, N., Berwick, R. C., Moro, A. and Bolhuis, J. J. (2017). Language, mind and brain. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(10), 713–722.
  • Fujita, H. and Fujita, K. (2021). Human language evolution: A view from theoretical linguistics on how syntax and the lexicon first came into being. Primates, 1, 3.
  • Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N. and Fitch, W. T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298, 1569–1579.
  • Hauser, M. D., Yang, C., Berwick, R. C., Tattersall, I., Ryan, M. J., Watumull, J., Chomsky, N. and Lewontin, R. C. (2014). The mystery of language evolution. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 401.
  • Ibbotson, P. and Tomasello, M. (2016). Evidence rebuts Chomsky’s theory of language learning. Scientific American, 315, 70–75.
  • Johansson, S. (2015). Language abilities in Neanderthals. Annual Review of Linguistics, 1(1), 311–332.
  • Katz, J. J. (1996). The unfinished Chomskyan revolution. Mind & Language, 11(3), 270–294.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2018). Dilin kökeni arayışları 3: hayvan iletişimi-I. Dil Araştırmaları, 23, 23–56.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2019). Dilin kökeni arayışları 3: hayvan iletişimi-II. Dil Araştırmaları, 24, 43–73.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2020). Neandertaller konuşur muydu? İnsanın ve dilin kökenine bir yolculuk. Varyant Yayınları.
  • Kerimoğlu, C. (2021). Chomsky Darwin’e Karşı: Evrensel Dilbilgisi, Dilin Kökeni ve Evrim Tartışmaları. Varyant Yayınları.
  • Lakoff, G. (1973). Deep Language. The New York Review of Books.
  • Levine, R. D. and Postal, P. M. (2004). A corrupted linguistics. The Anti Chomsky Reader içinde (203–231) (Collier, P. and Horrowitz, D., Ed.). Encounter Books.
  • Lieberman, P. (2016). The evolution of language and thought. Journal of anthropological sciences = Rivista di antropologia : JASS, 94, 127–146.
  • Martins, P. T. and Boeckx, C. (2019). Language evolution and complexity considerations: The no half-Merge fallacy. PLOS Biology, 17(11), e3000389.
  • Newmeyer, F. J. (2003). What can the field of linguistics tell us about the origins of language?. Language Evolution içinde (58–76) (M. Christiansen, H. ve Kirby, S., Ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Pinker, S. (2018). Dil içgüdüsü: Zihin dili nasıl meydana getirir? (İlgün, F., Çev.). Bilge Kültür Sanat Yayınları. Pinker, S. and Bloom, P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Brain and Behavioural Science, 13, 707–784.
  • Pinker, S. and Jackendoff, R. (2005). The faculty of language: What’s special about it? Cognition, 95(2), 201–236.
  • Postal, P. M. (2009). The incoherence of Chomsky’s “biolinguistic” ontology. Biolinguistics 3, 1, 104–123.
  • Pullum, G. K. and Scholz, B. C. (2002). Empirical assessment of stimulus poverty arguments. Linguistic Review, 18(1–2), 9–50.
  • Ramachandran, V. (2015). Öykücü beyin. Bir nöroloğun bizi insan kılanın ne olduğuna dair arayışı (Çevik, A. C., Çev). Alfa.
  • Sampson, G. (2002). Exploring the richness of the stimulus. Linguistic Review, 18(1–2), 73–104.
  • Seuren, P. (2004). Chomsky’s minimalism. Oxford University Press.
  • Tomasello, M. (2009). Universal grammar is dead. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5), 470–471.
  • Tremblay, P. and Dick, A. S. (2016). Broca and Wernicke are dead, or moving past the classic model of language neurobiology. Brain and Language, 162, 60–71.
There are 52 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Linguistics
Journal Section Linguistics
Authors

Caner Kerimoğlu 0000-0002-8514-8578

Publication Date December 1, 2021
Submission Date June 18, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021

Cite

APA Kerimoğlu, C. (2021). CHOMSKY’NİN PROBLEMİ: DİLİN EVRİMİ. Çukurova Üniversitesi Türkoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi, 6(2), 598-614. https://doi.org/10.32321/cutad.954455