One of the enduring theses about language and language learning is Chomsky's contention that it is based in a common and innate deep or structural grammar. But here now is a study showing that "language structure is not set by innate features of the cognitive language parser (as suggested by the generativists), or by some over-riding concern to "harmonize" word-order (as suggested by the statistical universalists). Instead language structure evolves by exploring alternative ways to construct coherent language systems. Languages are instead the product of cultural evolution, canalized by the systems that have evolved during diversification, so that future states lie in an evolutionary landscape with channels and basins of attraction that are specific to linguistic lineages." See also LanguageHat and Languiage Log (and if you're not familiar with these blogs, and if you have an interest in language, then by all means explore them further - they are both fantastic sources and staples in my daily reads).
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