Functional explanation in linguistics and the origins of language
Language & CommunicationPublished 1 January 1991
Frederick J. Newmeyer
Citations238
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score0.66
SNIP1.40
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Abstract
It is necessary to relate functional explanations to the whole issue of innateness, which has been so crucial in the development of formal explanations in linguistics. For instance, it is not excluded that functional principles might be innate.… This raises the interesting question of how innate ideas turn out to be ‘correct’ (more accurately, functionally valuable) ideas, as the result of selectional pressure in evolution. (Comrie, 1983, p. 99.)
Keywords
Arts and Humanities