27.3428, Review: Anthro Ling; Cog Sci; Gen Ling; Lang Acq; Philosophy of Lang: Berwick, Chomsky

Tue Aug 30 14:25:09 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-3428. Tue Aug 30 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.3428, Review: Anthro Ling; Cog Sci; Gen Ling; Lang Acq; Philosophy of Lang: Berwick, Chomsky

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Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2016 10:24:47
From: Laurel Schenkoske [laurelschenkoske at email.arizona.edu]
Subject: Why Only Us

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-1016.html

AUTHOR: Robert C. Berwick
AUTHOR: Noam  Chomsky
TITLE: Why Only Us
PUBLISHER: MIT Press
YEAR: 2016

REVIEWER: Laurel A. Schenkoske, University of Arizona

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

Why Only Us: Language and Evolution, by MIT’s Professors Robert Berwick and
Noam Chomsky, captivates their readers from the first sentence: “We are born
crying…” Unlike other, technical literature in the field, much of Why Only Us
is accessible to a wide readership, and should be of great interest to anyone
interested in language, evolution, or both.

The book is divided into four manageable chapters: (1) “Why Now?,” (2)
“Biolinguistics Evolving,” (3) “Language Architecture and its Import for
Evolution,” and (4) “Triangles in the Brain.” Some of Chomsky’s well-known
fundamentals appear in the first chapter and throughout the book: Human
language is species-specific; its primary purpose is for thought; UG
(Universal Grammar) is a theory of a biological language faculty, subject to
systematic constraints; language is structural, not linear; language contains
discrete infinity, a finite computational system, with infinite grammatical
combinations.

What makes human language human? According to Berwick and Chomsky, the simple
answer is Merge. As discussed in much of the Minimalist Program’s literature,
and repeated here, Merge’s binary set formation takes two elements and puts
them together. It is, supposedly, the simplest and indeed the only operation
necessary for language to be transmitted to the interfaces: the Sensorimotor
Interface (SM) for externalization, and the Conceptual-Intentional (CI)
Interface for thought.

After establishing this framework, Chapter 1, then goes into the history and
science of evolution and genetics. As a segue, Wallace’s Problem is
introduced: Language serves no biological function, and every other species on
the planet manages just fine without it; so why did it evolve (Wallace, 1869)?
It’s here that Berwick and Chomsky discuss “the evolution of evolutionary
theory” (p. 25). According to the authors, Darwin got several things wrong,
and is still misrepresented in much of the geneticist literature: much of
survival is determined by chance, rather than purely fitness. Furthermore,
it’s not only possible, but likely that some features, including language,
evolved quickly – within just a few thousand years.

Chapter 2, “Biolinguistics Evolving,” is a shorter chapter than the first, and
deals almost exclusively with the properties of language. It was referenced in
the Acknowledgements section that this chapter appeared as “a slightly
different version” in Biolinguistic Investigations (Di Sciullo & Boeckx,
eds.). Berwick was the sole author of the previous version, though Chomsky’s
voice comes through in the current chapter here. Chapter 2 takes up the issue
of evo-devo – “evolution and development.” Early on, they define the
biolinguistic perspective as the study of the human language as “a particular
object of the biological world” (p. 53): It is a mental organ. The chapter is
devoted to answering two questions: 1) Why are there any languages at all? and
2) Why are there so many languages? 

They draw comparisons between the “reconciling [of] unity and diversity” (p.
57) in language and that in general biology. All species are in fact
genetically similar and share a common ancestry; all are limited by
physiochemical constraints; all are subject to the sieving of natural
selection. This is in accordance to Gould’s Bauplan (2007) (or “ground plan”)
of shared features among organisms.

Berwick & Chomsky stress Tattersall’s claim that human language was not
selected for: it did not evolve out of a need for communication, but was
rather “a chance combination of preexisting elements” (Tattersall, 2006, p.
72). Furthermore, it was only after the emergence of language that humans
become behaviorally modern. They elaborate on the generative procedure – Merge
and the two interfaces, plus “atoms,” or words, and walk the reader through
the derivations of external and internal Merge.

Finally, Chapter 2 takes up the issue of the famous FOXP2 gene – supposedly
the “language gene.” According to Berwick and Chomsky, too much credit has
been attributed to this gene, which apparently has nothing to do with the
conceptual-intentional interface at the core of the language faculty and
narrow syntax. They provide evidence that the gene is merely for
externalization – a secondary function of language – and shared by many other
non-human species. 

Chapters 3 and 4 developed out of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
conference (according to the Acknowledgments page, but I cannot identify the
conference or year). Chapter 3, “Language Architecture and its Import for
Evolution,” is the briefest of the book’s four chapters. Several of the main
concepts from Chapters 1 and 2 are repeated, but I-languages (internal
languages) are now explained along with the other, now more familiar concepts.
They reiterate the idea that language (really the conceptual-intentional
interface) developed both recently – perhaps some 60,000 years ago, and
suddenly – it probably did not exist 80,000 years ago. Here they say for the
first time within this book that while the recency claim is firm, they are
somewhat less confident in the claim of suddenness. But they stand behind the
fact that since its evolution, language has not evolved any more in the
meantime. This is part of why UG “must be quite simple at its core” (p. 92).

The Minimalist Program, and in particular SMT (the Strong Minimalist Thesis)
is explained in some depth, as are objections from opponents of SMT, and UG in
general, particularly Tomasello (2009).

Chapter 4, “Triangles in the Brain,” is by far the most substantial chapter,
and the only one divided into sections: “What,” “Who,” “Where and When,”
“How,” and “Why.” Many of the main ideas from the previous three chapters are
again repeated here, and should in fact be very familiar to the reader by this
point.

“What” is the chapter’s heaviest section, and carries the most descriptive
power. Structural distance versus linear distance is driven home, now with
helpful triangular figures to represent human syntactic structure (hence,
“Triangles in the Brain”). Some time is devoted to finite-state transition
networks, comparing human phonotactic constraints to birdsong, which are both
represented at the sensorimotor interface – including human externalization.
While much of this chapter repeats the previous concepts, the authors also
discuss topics such as context-free grammars, content-addressable memory, and
computer architecture of natural language processing without really
introducing them. Those without prior knowledge may struggle here.

“Who” takes the reader more thoroughly through birdsong. Songbirds are
discussed in terms of their “sophisticated vocal learning” abilities. Their
“language” is similar to humans’ in that they teach it to their young, there
is left-brain lateralization, and there is a critical period. Berwick and
Chomsky explain, though, how birdsong is in fact not similar to the main
aspect of human language (Merge), but only to the sensorimotor interface, or
externalization. This is where linear dependencies occur. Structural
dependencies, outside of the SM interface, are absent in birdsong. The famous
Nim Chimpsky is discussed in a similar way. While many have claimed that
chimps may in fact have something like human language, Nim was shown be able
to learn only linear, rote strings. There is no conceptual-intentional
interface. There is no Merge. 

“Where and When” are taken together. Not much new information is provided
here: Merge developed somewhere between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago, but
probably at least 80,000 years. These numbers had been tossed around
throughout the book, but here they explain the timeline: Anatomically modern
humans developed some 200,000 years ago, but did not become behaviorally
modern until 80,000 years ago, and the African exodus was 60,000 years ago.
And according to the authors, the Basic Property, or Merge, probably developed
somewhere with modern human behavior, with no real change occurring since.

The final two sections are the briefest, but carry the most explanatory power.
In “How,” the authors explain that this is “necessarily speculative,” but
discuss a compelling idea. Certain fibers that connect different language
regions of our brains are present only in humans, and only in people above the
age of 2 or 3. This fits with the people that are able to “do” Merge. In
particular, the dorsal pathway connecting the anterior frontal lobe to
(ventral) Broca’s area is completely absent in infants. As Berwick & Chomsky
write, “It is as if the brain is not properly ‘wired up’ at birth to do
syntactic processing” (p. 161).  Macaques, or “Old World monkeys,” also do not
have a complete dorsal-to-ventral fiber-tract “ring,” (though it’s unclear
whether it’s the same fiber that’s missing in human infants and in macaques –
and maybe it doesn’t matter which, just that the ring is incomplete.) Most
important is that only humans, and only those over about 2 or 3, have a
complete fiber-tract circuitry. And only this group seems to have the
structural syntactic processing associated with Merge.

Finally, “Why” is taken up in the last two pages. Berwick and Chomsky explain
that it was the motivating question behind “Wallace’s Problem” (Wallace,
1869), introduced in Chapter 1. Why did human language evolve, since it
clearly wasn’t needed for survival? The answer is for thought (as, of course,
we know by this point in the book). It is the conceptual-intentional
interface, the “inner mental tool,” that helped gain a selective advantage in
early modern humans, as it aided in “better planning, inference, and the
like.”

EVALUATION

Why Only Us is overall a relatively easy read for the non-specialist.
Certainly anyone interested in the evolution of language will learn a great
deal about Berwick and Chomsky’s theories. Those with existing knowledge in
linguistics and/or evolution will get even more out of the book.

Since each of the chapters had previously been written for a specific purpose,
and brought together for this book, there is some lack of coherence. Certain
ideas are mentioned or discussed, but without proper introduction; others are
introduced as if for the first time in multiple chapters. But while the
fleeting descriptions may distract from the authors’ main ideas, they do not
otherwise impede understanding; and the areas of repetition will help the
reader to solidify those main concepts.

Another aid in understanding is Berwick and Chomsky’s use of several playful
analogies: one is the comparison of language’s Conceptual-Intentional
Interface to a computer’s processing system, and the Sensorimotor Interface to
its printer. Then, how can there be so many different languages when all must
draw from the same parameters? To help reconcile the unity and the diversity
in the many languages of the world, perhaps a major concern for doubters, they
draw on comparisons to a restaurant menu and to a Martian scientist. If one
considers the options on a menu, all languages have the same “menu” to choose
from, but each language will only “order” certain menu items. Furthermore,
because of genetic similarity among all species on the planet, a Martian
scientist studying humans and our languages might consider all beings on earth
as of the same organism, with only superficial differences. They would see us
as all sharing one common language, varied only in dialect. These analogies
and others throughout the book help guide both the casual and the pre-informed
reader.

The book opens almost like a story: “We are born crying…” (p. 1). Within
Chapter 1, to those who care about language, the first ten pages or so are
perhaps most captivating. The chapter then turns quickly to a history and
science lesson about biological evolution. This is no doubt highly relevant,
and is written in a manner that is easy to follow, even for those without the
background knowledge.

A portion of Chapter 3 echoes one common theme in Chomsky’s writings and
talks, snubbing any ideas that language acquisition may occur through general
cognitive principles, including calling it “a field that barely exists” and
discussing its implications for “the sociology of science” (p. 98). This may
come off as close-minded to some readers, but perhaps authors of a certain
stature are to be given some leeway in voicing their opinions.

The book contains a few pictures, which greatly aid in comprehension, but
simple, further steps would be helpful here. Derivations to explain
displacement in Internal Merge are provided in Chapters 2 and 3. The purpose
is to demonstrate that simple, linear computations are ignored by the CI in
favor of structural order. This is supposedly universal across languages, and
across sentence type. The derivations themselves are given a significant
amount of space, but they would be much easier to follow in step-by-step,
line-by-line sequence, rather than in prose. Similarly, Chapter 4 is the first
place to introduce the visual aid of language as triangles, though the concept
is discussed from the beginning. If these visuals were displayed earlier, it
would make the idea of the Basic Property and Merge easier to follow
throughout the book.

They mystery-story setup of Chapter 4 consists of sections of investigative
What-Who-Where-When-How-Why Questions. “What,” “Who,” “Where and When” repeat
and elaborate on the previous three chapters, and of these, “What” contains
the most technical language and ideas of the entire book, which may at times
seem murky to those unfamiliar with formal linguistic theory. “How” and “Why,”
though, the shortest of the sections, re-captivate the reader as they unfold
as the climax and conclusion of the story.

RESOURCES

Berwick, R. C. (2001). All you need is Merge. In A. M. Di Sciullo & C. Boeckx
(Eds.), Biolinguistic Investigations (461-491). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

Gould, S. J., & Rose, S. (2007). The richness of life: The essential Stephen
J. Gould. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

Tattersall, I. (2006). Becoming human: Evolution and the rise of intelligence.
Scientific American (July): 66-74.

Tomasello, M. (2009). UG is dead. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5), p.
470-471.

Wallace, A. R. (1869). Sir Charles Lyell on geological climates and the origin
of species. Quarterly Review (April). P. 359-392.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Laurel Schenkoske received her MA in German Studies and Linguistics from the
University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, where she then continued further study in
the field of formal Linguistics. She is currently a student in the SLAT
(Second Language Acquisition and Teaching) PhD program at the University of
Arizona, specializing in Processes, with a particular interest in
second-language sentence processing. She has spent many years in the
classroom, teaching a variety of Linguistics, German, and Composition
courses.<br /><br />Laurel had the privilege of hearing Professors Berwick and
Chomsky speak on their new book, Why Only Us, at the University of Arizona in
March, 2016.

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