language

[William S. Lear]

On Monday, March 22, 1999 at 11:24:41 (-0800) Sam Pawlett writes:
>>
>>
>> yes it is a difficult question, but it is *the* question.  i can be
>> patient.
>
>ok. Can concepts be  acquired non-linguistically? I think so. Ostensive
>defn may play a part in concept acquisition and concept formulation. It
>may get the ball rolling so to speak, when [a] child is learning a language
>(contra Chomsky) and coming to acquire a view of the world ( a conceptual
>scheme) The problem with Chomsky is that concepts like 'internet' have
>not been around long enough to tell a Darwin story about them.  ...

But, Chomsky does not claim that *all* concepts are innate, only that
some are.

Bill