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comment by rrrrr
rrrrr  ·  3191 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: MIT claims to have found a “language universal” that ties all languages together

The universal they found was to do with related terms appearing in proximity. But this could just show that all languages operate within tight confines of human short-term memory limitations. And that wouldn't really be evidence that human brains have inbuilt grammar departments.





OftenBen  ·  3191 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    And that wouldn't really be evidence that human brains have inbuilt grammar departments.

I think it would prove though that there are inbuilt elements in the human mind that tend to make grammars develop in similar fashions.