Language and Culture

Abstract

What is the relationship between language and culture? One argument has to do with whether there is a universal (biological) program for the acquisition of language or whether there is a set of potentialities which are molded by culture. Noam Chomsky argued for a universal (natural) program, whereas other linguists have argued that language is always a cultural invention. Daniel Everett suggests that only a general learning capacity is at work. Chomsky distinguished between broad and narrow faculties, the latter reducible to recursion, the folding of one statement into others by grammatical means. This, however, is not found in the Piraha language of Amazonia studied by Everett. Everett offered ‘intelligence’ as the factor enabling language acquisition, but the ability to combine patterns gets us closer to the processes involved.