Prospettive sul linguaggio umano e animale negli studi linguistici: da Chomsky ad Hurford

Abstract

The discussion about the phylogenetic relation between human and other animals – and between their abilities, both cognitive and communicative ones – traces back to ancient times. In this discussion, language has been one of the main topics for a long time. During the XX century – probably because of the great influence of structuralism and generativism – Linguistics paid little attention to the comparison between human language and animal language, though in recent years a new trend is to be sought. Two linguists – Noam Chomsky and James Hurford – seem to exemplify the evolution of the discussion: both human and non-­human abilities turn out to be the focus of an interdisciplinary and comparative approach that might lead up to a deeper comprehension of the language faculty.