In his new book Language Unlimited, David Adger does not just

celebrate on language’s infinity. He maintains that it is the distinct result 【M1】__________

of a unique capacity, advancing series of arguments whose best-known 【M2】__________

exponent is Noam Chomsky.

The book’s first and strongest claim is what human language is 【M3】__________

different from animal communication not just in scope, but in kind.

Most importantly, it is hierarchy and nested in structure. A highly 【M4】__________

trained bonobo called Kanzi can obey commands such as “Give water to

Rose.” And Kanzi does no better than random chance when told to 【M5】_________

“Give water and lighter to Rose.” Meanwhile, a two-year-old child

testing alongside Kanzi quickly intuits that two nouns can make up a 【M6】__________

noun phrase, tucked as a direct object into a verb phrase, which in turn

is part of a sentence. This “recursive” structure is key to syntax.

The second claim is that language is innate, not merely an extent of 【M7】_________

general human intelligence. Fascinating evidence comes from children

who are deprived it. Deaf pupils at a school in Nicaragua, having never 【M8】_________

shared a language with anyone before, created a grammatically ornate

sign language on their own. A few deaf children in a Mexican family

revised a rich sign system with complex grammatical features found in 【M9】__________

spoken tongues: in their “homesign”, nouns are preceded by a

“classifier”, a sign indicating their type, just as they sometimes are in

Chinese. It seems the human mind simply cannot help but to deal with 【M10】_________

grammar.

【M8】