Re: Instincts and Bioprograms

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At 11:15 PM 8/19/96 +0000, Ronald Kephart wrote:

>I assume that language and culture are biologically based systems. It seems
>clear that there is an innate biological infrastructure to language (Chomsky's
>universal grammar, Bickerton's bioprogram, whatever we end up calling it) which
>is innate in Homo sapiens sapiens. A good deal of this has been spelled out in
>the form of (at least) plausible hypotheses, one of which includes the
notion of
>biologically given principles and culturally set parameters. It is mostly
>non-anthropological linguists who are working on this, by the way, which is NOT
>as it should be, but that's probably another thread.

What are the criteria for deciding what is genetic and what is acquired--in
language, that is?

Best wishes. R. Snower rs222@worldnet.att.net

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