“普遍语法”的生物性争辩——兼谈“语言为人类独有”的问题

A Textual Critique on the Biological Nature of Universal Grammar——With a Partial Talk on “Why Language is Uniquely Owned by Human”

本文结合生物语言学的最新研究动向解析了"普遍语法"的构成和生成句法的合并机制。在此基础上文章还梳理和讨论了近年来有关UG生物属性的争辩。本文认为,乔姆斯基语言学对语言语法的深层机理做回归性本源探讨的研究思路与中国"大道之简"的道家哲学思想一脉相承。最后,文章根据Berwick&Chomsky的最新力作《为什么只有人类拥有语言》,讨论了"语言为人类独有"的问题。

The paper draws on the latest biolinguistics development to present and discuss components of Universal Grammar and the working mechanism of generative syntactic merge, based on which a more detailed analysis on the arguments about UG’s biological nature is given. We agree with Chomskyan approach to language study and admire his effort devoted to looking for the initial and commonly shared grammar structure deeply embedded in the human mind, which aligns with the Chinese philosophy of "Simplicity is the greatest Tao."Finally, a tentative discussion on "Why language is uniquely owned by human?" is presented based on Berwick and Chomsky’s work Why Only Us.