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If language is a jungle, why are we all cultivating the same plot?

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Maggie Tallerman

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Abstract

Evans & Levinson (E&L) focus on differences between languages at a superficial level, rather than examining common processes. Their emphasis on trivial details conceals uniform design features and universally shared strategies. Lexical category distinctions between nouns and verbs are probably universal. Non-local dependencies are a general property of languages, not merely non-configurational languages. Even the latter class exhibits constituency.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Tallerman M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Year: 2009

Volume: 32

Issue: 5

Pages: 469–470

Date deposited: 15/03/2011

ISSN (print): 0140-525X

ISSN (electronic): 1469-1825

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X09990598

DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X09990598

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