Chomsky

The theories of Noam Chomsly are usually summarized in the following terms: the deep structure of language is fundamentally innate. The problem with this formulation, aas was pointed out by a linguist. is how much structure of the language is innate: dog certainly is not, since in closely related languages it is spelled differently, whereas the distinction bwteeen noun and verb is universal so it is a good candidate for being hard-wired. recently Chomsky clarified his ideas by saying that a mutation, maybe a punctiform mutation, which he calls "merge" allowed to merge two concepts into one. The structure of syntax which Chomsky discovered, and which are his scientific triumph, are very complex, largely unconscious, and difficult to understand, but the main idea is that language can merge units to form a new unit. This property - articulation - is unique to natural language, since it lacks for instance in the complex language of bees and even in the language of mathematics, and by the way allows the language to speak of himself (which mathematics can not). it is not unreasonable to believe that this merging propriety is genetically determined and that arose suddenly. Art arose suddenly and in very sophisticated form about 40.000 years ago, and it is usually thought to be a sign of the birth of language.