emergentism (n.)

An approach in PSYCHOLINGUISTICS which posits an interaction between biological (NATIVIST) and environmental (EMPIRICIST) processes in language ACQUISITION, and provides an alternative to earlier theories which focused exclusively on one set of factors (e.g. innateness, cognition, input). Acquisition is seen to be the result of both innate constraints and environmental input, which dynamically interact to yield language. For example, the child’s early guesses about word meaning are viewed as the result of an interaction between parental input, the child’s cognitive awareness, and the way information is stored and retrieved in the child’s brain. There is particular interest in the ways higher-order structures emerge from lower-order interactions (‘upward causation’) and the ways higher-order interactions can affect lower levels (‘downward causation’).