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Genes, specificity, and the lexical/functional distinction in language acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Karin Stromswold
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. karin@ruccs.rutgers.edu

Abstract

Contrary to Müller's claims, and in support of modular theories, genetic factors play a substantial and significant role in language. The finding that some children with specific language impairment (SLI) have nonlinguistic impairments may reflect improper diagnosis of SLI or impairments that are secondary to linguistic impairments. Thus, such findings do not argue against the modularity thesis. The lexical/functional distinction appears to be innate and specifically linguistic and could be instantiated in either symbolic or connectionist systems.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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