Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-291

Title: A Mind for Language
Subtitle: An Introduction to the Innateness Debate
Publication Year: 2023

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL: https://cambridge.org/9781108456494

Author(s): Harry van der Hulst

Reviewer: Pamela Villar González

SUMMARY

A Mind for Language, An Introduction to the Innateness Debate, by Harry van de Hulst, is a textbook that shows arguments for both positions, that is to say, nature (‘innateness’ = genes) and nurture (knowledge /culture) in the debate over whether or not we are born with some “knowledge about language”. The book does not pretend to give any new information or even insight, but rather to present the current knowledge available without taking part in the discussion or agreeing with any of the parts, revisiting the available arguments from a linguistic perspective. However, no previous knowledge about the debate itself or even linguistics is needed to follow the book.

A Mind for Language is, according to the author, a textbook intended for undergraduate students. It is organized for a course consisting of 13 (weekly) meetings. The intention of the book is not adding ‘new’ information to the debate or proposing a ‘final solution’ to the ongoing discussion, but rather to present the different arguments available from both perspectives and why both make sense.
The book starts with a list of figures, acknowledgments, and a section entitled ‘How to Use This Book’ that, together with the first section of the book (Part I: Introduction), is very helpful in order to make clear what is covered in the book. This could be very helpful, not just for the instructor, but also for the students knowing what to expect and how to use the book correctly and get the most out of it.
After the first chapter ‘What is this book about’, which comprises the complete content of the first section, we find four chapters in the second part of the book, entitled ‘The Never-Ending Debate’. In order to present the debate, and why it is a “never-ending” issue, we need to know the background of the debate itself. This second part provides the context for the debate. In order to do so it is essential to understand the main scientists involved in the debate, that is to say, Noam Chomsky (the linguist who argued that we have ‘wired’ somehow a great part of our knowledge about language), and B. F. Skinner, the psychologist who defended the idea that everything is acquired. Furthermore, to understand and participate in the debate, or at least have our own opinion, we need to understand the main theories, principles, and arguments that have been presented from the beginning of the debate until nowadays.

Chapter 2 The Innateness Hypothesis discusses Chomsky’s hypothesis about the instinct for acquiring language, together with other perspectives on the nature-nurture debate.

Chapter 3 Philosophy of Mind addresses the debate from a philosophical perspective, introducing terms and theories that were taken from this discipline.

Chapter 4 Cognitive Science addresses “the science of the mind” (and its processes), an interdisciplinary science that is based on knowledge from Philosophy, Anthropology, and other scientific disciplines like Psychology, Linguistics, and Neuroscience. Here theoretical humanities and empirical science meet to explain how our mind works, and of course, language is one of the key topics.

Chapter 5 Modularity addresses the “mental module” related to language. The modularity of the brain and of the mind are discussed here and how these theories have been created. During the chapter key points are examined such as whether we really know what a module is and whether those modules are innate or acquired.

After a broad introduction to the debate from different perspectives, including philosophy, psychology, and other disciplines, the third section, entitled “The Mental Grammar, Language Universals, and Language Change”, focuses on the science that studies language, namely, Linguistics. As for the rest of the book, previous knowledge is not assumed, so many terms will be introduced and explained here to understand the debate from this perspective. The discussion here is less about the mind itself and more about language.

Chapter 6 The Organization of the Mental Grammar is defined by the author as a “crash course” on the structure of language. It aims to provide the reader with the needed understanding of how complex language is and why many concepts are not as trivial as they might seem. The idea is not so much that the reader learns all the technical details and terms, but rather is able to understand how the mental grammar that supports language works and why it is amazing that young children (more or less) come to have control of it.

Chapter 7 Language Universals asks whether there are (some) linguistic properties shared by ALL human languages and, if so, whether they support the concept of “universal grammar” as well as why then do we all not speak the same language. All these questions and many more are visited in this chapter.

Chapter 8 Language Change discusses how, even though language is something almost everyone has an intuition about, most people do not realize how much language changes in brief periods as well as how many parts of language do not change. It asks: Is there a reason for those parts not changing or not “changing so much”? Going back to the debate, is the fact that these properties that do not change (so much) related somehow to the nativist perspective?

Once we have a clear background about how language and mental grammar work, what can be considered ‘universals’, and what can or cannot change, the book goes into the process of language acquisition. In Section IV, the book explains how we acquire and learn a language and how this can support the Innateness Hypothesis.

Chapter 9 Language Acquisition: The Road from Input to Mental Grammar presents different arguments, including arguably the most famous ones, about language acquisition, specifically: Chomsky’s model (why children learn so fast despite having little and sometimes incorrect input) supporting the Innateness hypothesis vs. Skinner (who claimed the language can be learned by children just through the input, with no preconditions or previous knowledge).

Chapter 10 The Stages of Language Acquisition treats the different stages of language acquisition. While there is some variation across children, there are existing clear milestones in the learning process, which can support the idea of the developmental stages being supported by a “biological timetable”.

Chapter 11 Critical Period Effects examines the maturation effect presented in the previous chapter. The exact age of the critical period has been widely discussed, but normally it is considered the period of “puberty”. Learning a language after puberty presents more challenges than the acquisition of the first language or the learning of a second one before this “deadline”.

Chapter 12 How Children Create New Languages considers how children starting from a “pidgin (a relatively primitive system of communication created by adults that do not have a common language” can transform this into a creole (a full and complete language).

Until this moment, we have talked about language in general, but mainly referred to spoken language. In the next section, Part V, entitled “Language in a Different Modality”, the case of Sign language is presented. This is the only chapter in this section.

Chapter 13 examines Sign Languages. Most of the previous content of the book can be directly addressed in the case of Sign Language. Small variations and adaptations might be needed in others as we are still speaking about a system of communication, but as stated by the author “they operate in a completely different sensory channel”. Some neurobiology insights are addressed as well, as spoken languages and sign languages are processed in the same brain areas and ‘language problems’ in the same areas affect language in a similar way, independently of the modality.With this, we arrive at the last section of the book, Part VI, which as its title announces, is for “Winding Up”.

This section again contains just one chapter, Chapter 14, entitled Evaluating the Arguments: A Forum Discussion. All the presented arguments are revisited but in a ‘playful’ manner, not just as a typical glossary, or summary, but like a fictional debate between (non-existent) scientists. Some other arguments not presented in this book, but in a sequel coming from different areas than linguistics: psychology, sociology, anthropology, and more technical disciplines, are presented as well.
The textbook finishes with a Notes section (including a substantial bibliography indicating where the information presented in the chapter is extracted from). There is also a Further Reading section which includes readings about different topics addressed in the book, from empirical approaches to the Nature-Nurture debate, to Multilingualism, Genetics, Semiotics, and Linguistic Typology.

The Index finishes the printed book, but more information can be found on the webpage of the book (www.cambridge.org/AMindForLanguage. This includes a glossary, some discussion points recommended for the class, questions for reflections for the students, and some project suggestions to deepen one’s knowledge and/or work developed based on this book.

EVALUATION

A Mind for Language, An Introduction to the Innateness Debate is intended to be an (undergraduate) textbook and/or a book that introduces the main arguments, theories, and perspectives in the debate over whether language is innate or acquired. The book can be used as well as an introductory reading about language in the mind and/or for increasing the information about the different topics addressed. As the author promises, it presents from a linguistics perspective the discussion over whether language is (partly or completely) innate or learned, also called the nature vs nurture debate. The book is written from an objective perspective, without taking sides on one or the other approach, but showing the different arguments presented. It is easy to follow and enjoyable to read. Even though it is not intended for scholars or researchers on the topic, most of the available resources and bibliographic recommendations can be useful for the advanced reader. This book can be part of the bibliography not just for a curriculum about linguistics, but also about Cognitive Science and the (Neuro)psychology of language.

Most of the chapters but especially the sections are self-explanatory, which allows the book to be used for different purposes, not just for the debate over nature-nurture.

I am not so sure however that the book can work for a broader audience. Even though the book is easy to follow and everything is clearly explained, it still uses a lot of terminology that might make it complicated to keep track of for the average reader. If the author wants to offer an introductory book for a broad audience, maybe he should prepare a summary of this one (I would suggest 250 pages, maximum) and also make the book more visual.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Pamela Villar González is a lecturer and researcher in the Institute for Linguistics, Chair for Psycho-Neurolinguistics at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Germany). Her previous works are in diverse fields including Neuroscience (memory, study of biomarkers in healthy aging and dementia, sleep), Cognitive Neuro-Psychology (brain development), and psycho- and neurolinguistics (brain lateralization of language, whistled languages, language in autism). Her research interests lie mainly in language attrition, different systems of communication, methods and techniques for researching, and Open Science. Furthermore, she has her own Science Communication Project through Social Media (Pamdemia Científica), co-organizes the Language Attrition Network meetings, and collaborates with Brain Awareness Week and Pint of Science, among other projects.