Everett speaks on Dark Matter of the Mind, performs monolingual demo
Professor ,ÌýDean of Arts and Sciences atÌýBentley University and renowned expert on the Amazonian language Piraha, gave a talk, "Grammar and the Culturally Articulated Unconscious", in the Institute of Cognitive Science colloquium series on September 25.ÌýThis event was jointly sponsored by Linguistics and the Institute of Cognitive Science.ÌýIn the afternoon, he performed a in the Department of Linguistics. The demo involved a language that was unknown to Everett. Everett and the language teacher did not use a common language during the session. The language used by the teacher was later revealed to be Lamnso, a language spoken by the Nso people ofÌýNorthwest Cameroon.
Abstract
In this talk, I outline a theory of the formation of dark matter/tacit knowledge of the mind, via apperceptions, languaging, andÌýculturing, drawing the bulk of my data from Piraha, a language isolate of the BrazilianÌýAmazon that I have studied intensively.ÌýAmong the lessons that Piraha hasÌýto teach us about human language and the mind, two are highlighted here. TheÌýfirst is that not all human syntactic systems are equally complex. The second is that culture may exercise an architectonic effect on the final form of phonology, syntax, and otherÌýaspects of the grammar, and cognition more generally.ÌýÌýThe conclusion I draw from these lessons is thatÌýtheÌýidea of an innate, universal grammar has passed its sell-by date. UG has littleÌýif any role to play in our understanding of the nature, origins, and use of humanÌýlanguage. This work draws heavily from my Ìýforthcoming book:ÌýDark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated UnconsciousÌý(U of Chicago Press, 2016)Ìý