A Mind for Language An Introduction to the Innateness Debate

In Chapter 14 I review all the linguistic arguments in support of the Innateness Hypothesis that we have critically examined in this book. I first summarize these arguments. We will then have a number of imaginary speakers (any resemblance to actual people in the field is purely coincidental) reflecting on the Innateness Hypothesis, and on the force of the various arguments pro and con. In this chapter I also briefly preview the arguments that are discussed in a sequel book (Genes, Brains and Evolution: The Language Debate Continued), which critically examines arguments in potential support of the Innateness Hypothesis for language that are based on other disciplines than linguistics proper. In this sequel book, we review how the nature–nurture debate has played out in a number of other sciences, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, computational science, and a variety of biological disciplines, such as ethology and evolutionary science.