LING 1 Lecture 6: L6
Document Summary
Some universal aspects of language determine some aspects of thought. Polygenesis- language emerged in different places at different times i. e. could have had different types of hominids living in different parts of the world developed language independently. Monogenesis (more people believe this) - assumption that language really emerged only once in history of humankind. In order for that to happen, it would have had to be done before humans left africa. The further away the language is from africa, the fewer phonemes on average the language has. Languages (or grammars) change with time; occurs naturally. As a child, your grammar develops based on your environment. The data is insufficient to develop the basis of your grammar. Language that you heard growing up from your parents, etc. , is different from what your parents heard. Because the environments are different, your grammar will be different from that of your parents".
