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.