Theoria (Jan 2010)

Language as an Emergent Function: Some Radical Neurological and Evolutionary Implications

  • Terrence W. DEACON

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1387/theoria.562
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 3
pp. 269 – 286

Abstract

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Language is a spontaneously evolved emergent adaptation, not a formal computational system. Its structure does not derive from either innate or social instruction but rather self-organization and selection. Its quasi-universal features emerge from the interactions among semiotic constraints, neural processing limitations, and social transmission dynamics.

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