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Why is language well designed for communication?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

Jean-Louis Dessalles
Jean-Louis Dessalles
Affiliation:
TELECOM ParisTech, ParisTech, Paris, F-75013, France. dessalles@enst.frhttp://www.enst.fr/~jld
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Abstract

Selection through iterated learning explains no more than other non-functional accounts, such as Universal Grammar (UG), why language is so well designed for communicative efficiency. It does not predict several distinctive features of language, such as central embedding, large lexicons, or the lack of iconicity, which seem to serve communication purposes at the expense of learnability.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , October 2008 , pp. 518 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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