is 'cause' adjective here?

[vredes]

I find difficulties in understanding the function of 'cause' in the following sentence: The relatively proximate cause representational aspects of human behaviorthat show, tell or teachthe appropriate behavioral repertoires all facilitate the emergence ofsocial environment and culture. I'm not sure I understand the meaning of the sentence. Please help me. Thank you.

[SoothingDave]

I'm not sure anyone understands the meaning of that sentence.

Yes, I believe "proximate cause" is to be thought of as one item and it does function as an adjective to describe "aspects."

[5jj]

I'm not sure anyone understands the meaning of that sentence.

It's easy! it means ... um... er ...; Then again, it could be ... .

OK, you're right.

[SoothingDave]

Give the right people $120,000 and 4 years of your life and you, too, can write sentences like these!

[Barb_D]

Does anyone wonder why I think academic writing is utter crap if your goal is to cmmunicate ideas (instead of the goal of showing off how smart you think you are)?

[TheParser]

The relatively proximate cause of representational aspects of human behavior that show, tell or teach the appropriate behavioral repertoires all facilitate the emergence of social environment and culture.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

May I gently ask whether you accidentally forgot to type "of" after "cause"? IF you did, then "cause" is a noun:

The relatively proximate (immediate) cause of representational aspects ....

On the other hand, if there is no "of," I apologize and will delete this post ASAP.