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Published 8 years ago by imokruok with 2 Comments
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  • linguistrose
    +9

    This is a really fascinating article. I've got a degree in linguistics and I get so excited about new evidence pointing toward UG. I was really upset a few years back when Daniel Everett was claiming that Piraha proved UG didn't exist (though there is much debate as to the validity of his claims). So, this news makes me very happy!

  • AdelleChattre
    +4

    Not sure that this supports the notion of a universal grammar, so much as there being a cost to parsing. Even in variable-word-order languages, parsing relies very much on locality for efficiency. Pronominal references are likely to subjects or objects recently mentioned, right? That would likely be as true of Martians and the squid that will replace us as the dominant species on Earth as it is of humans.

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