LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:6 June 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Biological Basis of Language Revisited:
A Review of Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct (1994)
USA: William Morrow and Company

Sweta Sinha, Ph.D.

Abstract

The processes of origin/ evolution of language have been a subject of debate for several decades. It has been with man long before the invention of writing though its importance has been widely underestimated. The article reviews Steven Pinker’s “The Language Instinct” (1994) in light of the existing debate. Through his book Pinker tried to claim that if two people come in contact then language is bound to develop. The faculty of language is not just a product of cultural influence but it has a strong and verifiable biological basis. Sympathizing with the Chomskyan perspective of Universal Grammar Pinker claims that human mind has its own language ‘mentalese’ which acts as an interface between the spoken form of language and the mental lexicon. The book makes an interesting reading offering evidential support for the claims that Pinker makes in the book.

The Faculty of Language

The origin of the faculty of language in humans has always been a subject of great debate for centuries. The fact that it is unique to humans (not considering the communication system in primates, ants and honey bees to be equivalent to that of a human language) has always created a sense of awe and inquisitiveness around this subject. Various approaches have been modeled so far in an attempt to describe the acquisition of language which occurs so effortlessly in humans especially the first language (L1). The fact that there was language long before writing evolved is widely underestimated by literate investigators. Language was already high defined biological product, complete in all sense, long before writing was invented.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sweta Sinha, Ph.D.
Flat Number 1503, Tower 12
Orange County
Ahinsa Khand I, Indirapuram
Ghaziabad 201012
Uttar Pradesh
India

Centre for Linguistics
School Of Language, Literature and Culture Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
New Delhi- 110067
India
apna1982@gmail.com
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