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Vyvyan Evans

Professor of Linguistics, Bangor University, Wales, UK

Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University in Wales, UK. His latest book is The Language Myth: Why Language Is Not an Instinct (2014).

Written by Vyvyan Evans

Abstract painting of a machine-like face on an orange background, exhaling a ribbon with words like ‘bald’ and ‘kissed’, with a small human figure.

essayLanguage and linguistics

Real talk

For decades, the idea of a language instinct has dominated linguistics. It is simple, powerful and completely wrong

Vyvyan Evans