Home Saussurian biolinguistics? Bouchard’s offline brain systems and Sign Theory of Language
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Saussurian biolinguistics? Bouchard’s offline brain systems and Sign Theory of Language

  • Andrew Feeney

    After teaching English as a foreign language around the world, Andrew Feeney joined Northumbria University where he became a senior lecturer in linguistics. He was awarded his PhD from Newcastle University in 2014 for his thesis on language evolution as a constraining factor on theories of the human faculty for language. In addition to publishing on language evolution, his research focuses on the Representational Hypothesis and the relationship between language as a semiotic system and mind internal thought. He is currently preparing a monograph based on his PhD, working on a collaborative project on Subitizing and specific language impairment, and conducting research into cross linguistic variation in syntactic argument structure.

    EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 18, 2018
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

This article examines Bouchard’s (e.g. Bouchard, D. 2010. From neurons to signs. In A. D. M. Smith, M. Schouwstra, B. de Boer & K. Smith (ed.), Proceedings of the 8th International conference on the evolution of language, 42–49. Singapore: World Scientific; Bouchard, D. 2013. The nature and origin of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Bouchard, D. 2015. Brain readiness and the nature of language. Frontiers in Psychology 6.) discussion of the nature of language as ‘Saussurian Biolinguistics.’ A fundamental assumption of Bouchard, that of the existence of the Saussurian sign as a psychologically real entity in language, is disputed and an alternative understanding of the semiotic function of language is stressed. The consequences of Bouchard’s adoption of double interface signs for the relation of language to thought are also discussed and it is argued that such an approach leads inexorably to a form of linguistic relativity, and that positing a language independent ‘mentalese’ resolves this problem. The proposed model of language evolution, in which Bouchard is sceptical of protolanguage, is challenged, as are his claims regarding the properties of the language faculty. Bouchard presents a theory of the cognitive underpinning of language, ‘Offline Brain Systems,’ which is inadequate in accounting for the unique properties of human cognition. Instead, a more insightful and explanatorily comprehensive theory is presented here: dual-processing and the Representational Hypothesis.

About the author

Andrew Feeney

After teaching English as a foreign language around the world, Andrew Feeney joined Northumbria University where he became a senior lecturer in linguistics. He was awarded his PhD from Newcastle University in 2014 for his thesis on language evolution as a constraining factor on theories of the human faculty for language. In addition to publishing on language evolution, his research focuses on the Representational Hypothesis and the relationship between language as a semiotic system and mind internal thought. He is currently preparing a monograph based on his PhD, working on a collaborative project on Subitizing and specific language impairment, and conducting research into cross linguistic variation in syntactic argument structure.

References

Allen, J. S. 2009. The lives of the brain: Human evolution and the organ of mind. Cambridge: Belknap Press.10.4159/9780674053496Search in Google Scholar

Aoki, K. 2015. Modeling abrupt cultural regime shifts during the palaeolithic and stone age. Theoretical Population Biology 100. 6–12.10.1016/j.tpb.2014.11.006Search in Google Scholar

Bickerton, D. 1990. Language & species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226220949.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Bickerton, D. 2007. Language evolution: A brief guide for linguists. Lingua 117. 510–526.10.1016/j.lingua.2005.02.006Search in Google Scholar

Bickerton, D. 2012. The origins of syntactic language. In M. Tallerman & K. R. Gibson (eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0049Search in Google Scholar

Blasia, D. E., S. Wichmannd, H. Hammarströmb, P. F. Stadlerc & M. H. Christiansenh. 2016. Sound-meaning association biases evidenced across thousands of languages. Pnas 113. 10818–10823.10.1073/pnas.1605782113Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Boeckx, C. 2010. A Tale of Two Minimalisms: Reflections on the possibility of crash-proof syntax, and its free merge alternative. In Putnam H. (eds.), Exploring Crash-Proof Grammars., 105–124 Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/lfab.3.06boeSearch in Google Scholar

Botha, R. P. 2016. Language evolution: The windows approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781316471449Search in Google Scholar

Bouchard, D. 2010. From neurons to signs. In A. D. M. Smith, M. Schouwstra, B. de Boer & K. Smith (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International conference on the evolution of language, 42–49. Singapore: World Scientific.10.1142/9789814295222_0006Search in Google Scholar

Bouchard, D. 2013. The nature and origin of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199681624.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Bouchard, D. 2015. Brain readiness and the nature of language. Frontiers in Psychology 6.10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01376Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Bouissac, P. 2010. Saussure: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar

Bugnyar, T. & B. Heinrich. 2005. Ravens, Corvus corax, differentiate between knowledgeable and ignorant competitors. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 272. 1641–1646.10.1098/rspb.2005.3144Search in Google Scholar

Burton-Roberts, N. 2000. What and where is phonology?. In N. Burton-Roberts, P. Carr, and G. J. Docherty (eds.), Phonological knowledge: Conceptual and empirical issues, 39–66. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198241270.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Burton-Roberts, N. 2011. On the grounding of syntax and the role of phonology in human cognition. Lingua 121. 2089–2102.10.1016/j.lingua.2011.08.001Search in Google Scholar

Burton-Roberts, N. & G. Poole. 2006. “Virtual conceptual necessity,” feature-dissociation and the Saussurian legacy in generative grammar. Journal of Linguistics 42. 575–628.10.1017/S0022226706004208Search in Google Scholar

Call, J. & M. Tomasello. 2006. The gestural communication of apes and monkeys. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00825-7Search in Google Scholar

Carey, S. 2011. Precis of the origin of concepts. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34. 113–117.10.1017/S0140525X10000919Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, N. 2004. Beyond Explanatory Adequecy. In A. Belletti (ed.), The Cartography of Syntactic Structures. Vol. III: Structures and Beyond., 104–131. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Chater, N. 2018. The mind is flat: The illusion of mental depth and the improvised mind. London: Allen Lane.Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, N. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, N. Beyond explanatory adequacy. In Belletti A., In The Cartography of Syntactic Structures. Vol. III: Structures and Beyond. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2004:104–131.10.1093/oso/9780195171976.003.0004Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, N. 2007 Approaching UG from below. In U. (ed.), Interfaces + Recursion = Language?., 1–29 New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110207552-001Search in Google Scholar

Chomsky, N. 2015. The minimalist program. Cambridge & London: The MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262527347.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Clarke, D. S. 1987. Principles of semiotic. London & New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Search in Google Scholar

Clayton, N. S. & A. Dickinson. 1998. Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays. Nature 395. 272–274.10.1038/26216Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Crystal, J. D. 2018. Animal models of episodic memory. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews 13. 105–122.10.3819/CCBR.2018.130012Search in Google Scholar

Culler, J. D. 1976. Saussure. Glasgow: Fontana/Collins.Search in Google Scholar

de Lavilleon, G., M. M. Lacroix, L. Rondi-Reig, & K. Benchenane. 2015. Explicit memory creation during sleep demonstrates a causal role of place cells in navigation. Nature Neuroscience 18(4). 493–495.10.1038/nn.3970Search in Google Scholar PubMed

de Saussure, F. 1959. Course in general linguistics. New York: Philosophical Library.Search in Google Scholar

de Saussure, F. & R. Harris. 1972. Course in general linguistics. London: Duckworth.Search in Google Scholar

Dehaene, S. 2011. The number sense: How the mind creates mathematics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Dehaene, S. & L. Cohen. 2007. Cultural recycling of cortical maps. Neuron 56. 384–398.10.1016/j.neuron.2007.10.004Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Dennett, D. C. 1991. Consciousness explained. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.Search in Google Scholar

Devitt, M. 2006. Ignorance of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0199250960.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Dubreuil, B. 2008. What do modern behaviours in homo sapiens imply for the evolution of language. In A. D. M. Smith, K. Smith, & R. Ferrer I Cancho (eds.), The evolution of language: Proceedings of the 7th International conference (EVOLANG7), Barcelona, Spain, 12–15 march 2008, 99–106. Hacksensack: World Scientific10.1142/9789812776129_0013Search in Google Scholar

Eagleman, D. 2011. Incognito: The secret lives of the brain. Edinburgh & New York: Canongate.Search in Google Scholar

Evans, J. St B. T. 2010. Thinking twice: Two minds in one brain. New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Evans, J. St B. T. & K. Frankish. 2009. In two minds: Dual processes and beyond, 1–29. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230167.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Evans, V., & M. C. Green. 2016. Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Fauconnier, G., & M. Turner. 2008. The origin of language as a product of the evolution of double-scope blending. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31(5). 520–521.10.1017/S0140525X08005116Search in Google Scholar

Feeney, A. 2018. Language evolution and the nature of the human faculty for language. In C. Wright, T. Piske, and M. Young-Scholten (eds.), Mind matters in SLA, 72–90. Bristol: Multilingual Matters10.21832/9781788921626-007Search in Google Scholar

Fodor, J. A. 1975. The language of thought. Crowell: New York.Search in Google Scholar

Fodor, J. A. 2008. LoT 2: The language of thought revisited. Oxford & New York: Clarendon Press & Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548774.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Franksih, K. & J. Evans. 2009. The duality of mind: A historical perspective. In Frankish K. & Evans J. (eds.), In two minds: Dual processes and beyond., 1&29 Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230167.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Gonen, S., A. Nira, & N. Goren-Inbar. 2011. Cultural conservatism and variability in the Acheulian sequence of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov. Journal of Human Evolution 60(4). 387–397.10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.11.012Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Gould, S. J. & N. Eldredge. 1993. Punctuated equilibrium comes of age. Nature 366. 223–227.10.1038/366223a0Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Harnad, S. 2010. Eliminating the “concept” concept. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33(2–3). 213–214.10.1017/S0140525X10000567Search in Google Scholar

Hauser, M. D., D. Barner & T. O’Donnell. 2007. Evolutionary linguistics: A new look at an old landscape. Language Learning and Development 3. 101–132.10.1080/15475440701225394Search in Google Scholar

Hauser, M. D., N. Chomsky & W. T. Fitch. 2002. The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?. Science 298. 1569–1579.10.1126/science.298.5598.1569Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Henrich, J. 2004. Demography and cultural evolution: How adaptive cultural processes can produce maladaptive losses — The Tasmanian case. American Antiquity 69. 197–214.10.2307/4128416Search in Google Scholar

Hinzen, W. 2006. Mind design and minimal syntax. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199289257.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hinzen, W. 2007. An essay on names and truth. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780199274420.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hinzen, W. & M. Sheehan. 2013. The philosophy of Universal grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654833.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hornstein, N., J. Nunes & K. Grohmann. 2005. Understanding minimalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511840678Search in Google Scholar

Hurford, J. R. 2003. The neural basis of predicate-argument structure. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 26(3). 261–283.10.1017/S0140525X03000074Search in Google Scholar

Hurford, J. R. 2007. The origins of meaning. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hurford, J. R. 2011. The origins of grammar. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0040Search in Google Scholar

Jerison, H. J. 1973. Evolution of the brain and intelligence. New York: Academic Press.10.1016/B978-0-12-385250-2.50018-3Search in Google Scholar

Joseph, J. E. 2004. The linguistic sign. In C. Sanders (ed.), The Cambridge companion to Saussure, 59–75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CCOL052180051X.005Search in Google Scholar

Joseph, J. E. 2012. Saussure. Oxford: Oxford Unievrsity Press.Search in Google Scholar

Kamm, G. B., F. Pisciottano, R. Kliger & L. F. Franchini. 2013. The developmental brain gene NPAS3 contains the largest number of accelerated regulatory sequences in the human genome. Molecular Biology and Evolution 30. 1088–1102.10.1093/molbev/mst023Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Kano, F. & S. Hirata. 2015. Great apes make anticipatory looks based on long-term memory of single events. Current Biology 25. 2513–2517.10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.004Search in Google Scholar

Kolodny, O., N. Creanza & M. W. Feldman. 2015. Evolution in leaps: The punctuated accumulation and loss of cultural innovations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112: E6762–E6769.10.1073/pnas.1520492112Search in Google Scholar

Koops, K., T. Furuichi, & C. Hashimoto. 2015. Chimpanzees and bonobos differ in intrinsic motivation for tool use. Nature Scientific Reports 5.11356.10.1038/srep11356Search in Google Scholar

Langacker, W. R. 1987. Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Leonard, W. R., J. J. Snodgrass & M. L. Robertson. 2007. Effects of brain evolution on human nutrition and metabolism. Annual Review of Nutrition 27. 311–327.10.1146/annurev.nutr.27.061406.093659Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Maher, J. C., J. Groves & R. Appignanesi. 1996. Introducing Chomsky. New York: Totem Books.Search in Google Scholar

Mann, A. 2012. The genus Homo and the origins of ‘humaness.’ In M. Tallerman, K. R. Gibson (eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution, 273–281. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Martin-Ordas, G., D. Berntsen & J. Call. 2013. Memory for distant past events in chimpanzees and orangutans. Current Biology 23. 1438–1441.10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.017Search in Google Scholar

Mesoudi, A. 2011. Variable cultural acquisition costs constrain cumulative cultural evolution. PLoS One 6(3). e18239.10.1371/journal.pone.0018239Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Mulcahy, N. J. & J. Call. 2006. Apes save tools for future use. Science 312. 1038–1040.10.1126/science.1125456Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Osvath, M. 2009. Spontaneous planning for future stone throwing by a male chimpanzee. Current Biology 19. R190–R191.10.1016/j.cub.2009.01.010Search in Google Scholar

Penn, D. C., K. J. Holyoak, & D. J. Povinelli. 2008. Darwin’s mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31(2). 109–130.10.1017/S0140525X08003543Search in Google Scholar

Peirce C. S. 1873 On representations. http://www.iupui.edu/~arisbe/menu/library/bycsp/logic/ms212.htm (accessed 1May2015).Search in Google Scholar

Peirce C. S. 1910. Signs and their objects.Search in Google Scholar

Raby, C. R., D. M. Alexis, A. Dickinson & N. S. Clayton. 2007. Planning for the future by western scrub-jays. Nature 445. 919–921.10.1038/nature05575Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Reader, S. M., Y. Hager & K. N. Laland. 2011. The evolution of primate general and cultural intelligence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 366. 1017–1027.10.1098/rstb.2010.0342Search in Google Scholar

Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S. & R. Lewin. 1994. Kanzi: The ape at the brink of the human mind. New York: Wiley.Search in Google Scholar

Seyfarth, R. M., & D. Cheney. 2012. Primate social cognition as a precursor to language. In Tallerman M., and Gibson K.,(eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution, 59–70. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0004Search in Google Scholar

Schmelz, M., J. Call & M. Tomasello. 2011. Chimpanzees know that others make inferences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108: 3077–3079.10.1073/pnas.1000469108Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Sebeok, T. A. 1972. Perspectives in zoosemiotics. The Hague: Mouton.Search in Google Scholar

Sloman, S. A. 1996. The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 119. 3–22.10.1037/0033-2909.119.1.3Search in Google Scholar

Stringer, C. 2011. The origin of our species. London: Allen Lane.Search in Google Scholar

Sun, J. X., A. Helgason, G. Masson, S. S. Ebenesersdottir, H. Li, S. Mallick, S. Gnerre, N. Patterson, A. Kong, D. Reich & K. Stefansson. 2012. A direct characterization of human mutation based on microsatellites. Nature Genetics 44. 1161–1165.10.1038/ng.2398Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Tallerman, M. 2007. Did our ancestors speak a holistic protolanguage?. Lingua 117. 579–604.10.1016/j.lingua.2005.05.004Search in Google Scholar

Tallerman, M. 2012a. What is syntax?. In M. Tallerman, & K. R. Gibson (eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution, 442–455. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0048Search in Google Scholar

Tallerman, M. 2012b. Protolanguage. In M. Tallerman, and K. R. Gibson (eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution, 479–491. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0051Search in Google Scholar

Taylor, J. R. 2007. Cognitive linguistics and autonomous linguistics. In D. Geeraerts & H. Cuyckens (eds.), The Oxford handbook of cognitive linguistics, 566–588. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Terrace, H. S. 2005. Metacognition and the evolution of language. In H. S. Terrace & J. Metcalfe (eds.), The missing link in cognition: Origins of self-reflective consciousness, 84–115. Oxford: Oxford University Press10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195161564.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Tomasello, M. 2008. Origins of human communication. Cambridge: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/7551.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Tomasello, M., M. Carpenter, J. Call, T. Behne, & H. Moll. 2005. Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28(5). 675–691.10.1017/S0140525X05000129Search in Google Scholar

Tulving, E. 1983. Elements of episodic memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Vaesen, K. 2012. Cumulative cultural evolution and demography. PLoS One 7(7). e40989.10.1371/journal.pone.0040989Search in Google Scholar PubMed

Wray, A. 1998. Protolanguage as a holistic system for social interaction. Language & Communication 18. 47–67.10.1016/S0271-5309(97)00033-5Search in Google Scholar

Wynn, T. 2012. The palaeolithic record. In M. Tallerman & K. R. Gibson (eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution, 282–295. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Wynn, T., F. Coolidge & M. Bright. 2009. Hohlenstein-Stadel and the evolution of human conceptual thought. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19. 73–83.10.1017/S0959774309000043Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2018-10-18

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 12.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/cogsem-2018-2005/html
Scroll to top button