biology

The Language Myth

The Language Myth is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Language Myth rather than just read about it. In short: The Language Myth is a 2014 book by Vyvyan Evans, written for a general audience. It is a direct rebuttal of Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct.

Key takeaways

The Language Myth belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Language Myth to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Language Myth from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Language Myth is a 2014 book by Vyvyan Evans, written for a general audience. It is a direct rebuttal of Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct. Evans argues against Noam Chomsky's claim that all human languages provide evidence for an underlying Universal Grammar. Evans posits, instead, a language-as-use thesis to account for the nature of language, how it is learned and how it evolves.

Reception The Language Myth caused considerable controversy upon publication among supporters of Chomskyan universal grammar. David Adger argued that the "attack on generative linguistics misrepresents the field". Another vocal critic, Norbert Hornstein attacked the book for presenting caricatures of Chomskyan generative grammar and of providing inadequate arguments to support its main claims. Others have attacked the book for its polemical style and what are claimed to be Evans' misunderstandings of Universal Grammar. Evans responded by claiming that it is exactly critics of the book who misunderstand. He argues that his critics do not provide a coherent argument that is falsifiable as they posit Universal Grammar as a theoretical axiom, which does not require proof or evidence to support it. He also argues that the Universal Grammar perspective makes a claim that is biological rather than linguistic in nature, and hence one that cannot be substantiated on the basis of linguistic evidence.

Controversy In 2016, Language, the flagship academic journal of the Linguistic Society of America published a series of "Alternative (Re)views" by six leading linguists, all addressing The Language Myth. Evans was originally invited to contribute a response to those articles. However, his submission was rejected by the journal's review editor. Evans wrote an open-letter to the linguistics community claiming that he was being censored.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Language Myth

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Language Myth claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Language Myth before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Language Myth ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Language Myth

In research: The Language Myth appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Language Myth in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Language Myth is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 non-fiction books, Cambridge University Press books, Generative linguistics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Language Myth outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Language Myth in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Language Myth means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Language Myth out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Language Myth in simple terms?

The Language Myth is a 2014 book by Vyvyan Evans, written for a general audience. It is a direct rebuttal of Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct.

Why does The Language Myth matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Language Myth?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Language Myth.