?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=The+evolution+of+language+and+languages&rft.creator=Hurford%2C+James+R&rft.subject=Evolution&rft.subject=Developmental+Psychology&rft.subject=Historical+Linguistics&rft.subject=Pragmatics&rft.subject=Semantics&rft.subject=Syntax&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Language&rft.subject=Psycholinguistics&rft.subject=Social+Psychology&rft.description=Human+languages%2C+such+as+French%2C+Cantonese+or+American+Sign+Language%2C+are+socio-++cultural+entities.+Knowledge+of+them+(%60competence')+is+acquired+by+exposure+to+the+ap-++propriate+environment.+Languages+are+maintained+and+transmitted+by+acts+of+speaking++and+writing%3B+and+this+is+also+the+means+by+which+languages+evolve.+The+utterances+of+one++generation+are+processed+by+their+children+to+form+mental+grammars%2C+which+in+some+sense+summarize%2C+or+generalize+over%2C+the+children's+linguistic+experiences.+These+grammars+are++the+basis+for+the+production+of+a+new+avalanche+of+utterances+to+which+the+next+generation++in+its+turn+is+subjected.+(This+picture+is+simplified%2C+of+course%2C+as+generations+overlap.)++Languages+inhabit+two+distinct+and+separate+modes+of+existence%2C+which+have+been++called+(by+Chomsky%2C+1986)+%60E-Language'+and+%60I-Language'.+E-language+is+the+external+observable+behaviour+---+utterances+and+inscriptions+and+manifestations+of+their+meanings.++E-language+is+regarded+by+some+as+so+chaotic+and+subject+to+the+vicissitudes+of+everyday++human+life+as+to+be+a+poor+candidate+for+systematic+study.+(E-Language+corresponds++to+what+Chomsky%2C+in+earlier+terminology%2C+called+%60performance'.)+Out+of+this+blooming++buzzing+confusion+the+individual+child+distils+an+order+internal+to+the+mind%3B+the+child+constructs+a+coherent+systematic+set+of+rules+mapping+meanings+onto+forms.+This+set+of++rules+is+the+child's+I-Language+(where+%60I'+is+for+%60internal').+No+two+individuals'+I-Languages++have+to+be+the+same%2C+although+those+of+people+living+in+the+same+community+will+overlap++very+significantly.+But+there+will+usually+be+at+least+some+slight+difference+between+the+I-language+features+prevalent+in+one+generation+and+those+prevalent+in+the+next.+This+is++the+stuff+of+language+evolution%2C+in+the+sense+of+the+historical+development+of+individual++languages%2C+such+as+Swedish%2C+Navaho+or+Zulu.&rft.publisher=Edinburgh+University+Press&rft.date=1998&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpostscript&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F617%2F2%2Fdunbar.knight.power.s.ps&rft.identifier=++Hurford%2C+James+R++(1998)+The+evolution+of+language+and+languages.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D++++(Unpublished)++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F617%2F