A connectionist model of language from sensorimotor preadaptation
Abstract
Some theorists claim that language is produced by a special rule-processing
module located in the association areas of the human neocortex. However,
anthropological, neural, and comparative evidence suggests that language is
produced by general sensory and motor mechanisms that are common to all
mammals. On this view, the prior evolution of advanced cognition preadapted
general sensory and motor mechanisms for language. This thesis presents a
connectionist language model that is consistent with this hypothesis. The model
uses general sensory and motor mechanisms to understand and produce English
sentences. By doing so, it demonstrates that it is not necessary to postulate an
unprecedented new brain adaptation like a special rule-processing module in
order to explain language.