The indispensable complexity (When harder is easier)

COMPLEXITY has become a key notion in EMERGENTIST approaches to language and cognitive development, namely, the approaches adhering to a functionalist, anti-modular and anti-innatist paradigm. In this context, “complexity” must be clearly stripped of any prima facie negative connotation: being “complex” is not necessarily the same as being “complicated or difficult”. Rather, it should be interpreted within terms of dynamic systems theory, as a way to characterize the particular level of language organization and its specific dynamics. Indeed, an important hallmark of language as a complex system is the deep interplay between lexical and grammatical development, which gives rise to various types of non-linear dynamics in language ontogenesis. The role of complexity in language acquisition can also be clearly observed in the formation of the actionality-temporality-aspect-mood (ATAM) system, where grammar and lexicon development, cognitive maturation and language acquisition appear to be deeply intertwined