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BIOLOGICAL NOTIONS OF INNATENESS AND EXPLANATION OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

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Part of the book series: BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE ((BSPS,volume 252))

Abstract

All children learn or acquire their first language during a relatively short period in childhood. Individual variation or differences in learning environments seem to have very little influence on this process. Basically, every human being acquires a native language in essentially the same way. These facts have long puzzled linguists and psychologists. Generally speakin, there have been two competing accounts of this phenomenon, the empiricist’s story and the nativist’s story.

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KIIKERI, M., KOKKONEN, T. (2007). BIOLOGICAL NOTIONS OF INNATENESS AND EXPLANATION OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. In: PERSSON, J., YLIKOSKI, P. (eds) RETHINKING EXPLANATION. BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, vol 252. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5581-2_13

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