Ning Chunyan, a professor from Tianjin Normal University, gave a lecture on Biolinguistics in the Center Lecture Hall on the evening of June 19th, 2013. Many scholars and students attended the lecture.
Professor Ning first reviewed the research on language from the philosophical, empirical, and scientific perspectives. He pointed out that these studies mainly focus on language phenomena, rather than the underlying motivation for the outward linguistic phenomena. The biolinguistic approach asks the fundamental questions of why people can speak a language and why only people can speak a language. Biolinguistics studies language competence and Universal Grammar, rather than the induction and generalization of language behavior. A biological and neurological approach should be taken to investigate these research questions. Next, Professor Ning analyzed the five questions raised by Chomsky. What is knowledge of language? How is this knowledge acquired? How is this knowledge put to use? What are the brain mechanisms for this knowledge? And how does this knowledge evolve? To answer these questions, a mathematical approach should be employed to establish formal models in syntax, phonology and semantics. The next issue professor Ning focused on is the theory of Evo-Devo. Natural selection may not be the only reason for evolution, and evolution does not serve a particular purpose. Language is a byproduct which comes as a secondary function through the interface of different human organs. It is possible that there is no language organ. Chomsky regards language as a thinking tool, which is perfect in design. The fundamental features of language are recursion, discreteness, infinity, and displacement. The Merge operation leads to hierarchical structure, and the decompositional nature defines human evolution and human language. Finally, Professor Ning talked about the future of biolinguistic research. He urged for an inter-species, inter-linguistic, and inter-disciplinary research model, asking people to investigate both normal and abnormal language behavior.
After the lecture, Professor Ning had a warm and productive discussion with the attendees.
