DRAFT 9/6/05 The interactional instinct: The evolution and acquisition of language

In this presentation, we outline a perspective on language acquisition based on evolutionary biology and neurobiology. We argue that language is a cultural artifact that emerges as a complex adaptive system from the verbal interaction among humans. We see the ubiquity of language acquisition among children generation after generation as the product of an interactional instinct that, as Tomasello indicates, is based on an innate drive communicate with and become like conspecifics. Languageas a cultural artifact