Language Acquisition from a Biolinguistic Perspective
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Event Representations Constrain the Structure of Language: Sign
Correction PSYCHOLOGICAL AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES Correction for “Event representations constrain the structure of language: Sign language as a window into universally accessible linguistic biases,” by Brent Strickland, Carlo Geraci, Emmanuel Chemla, Philippe Schlenker, Meltem Kelepir, and Roland Pfau, which appeared in issue 19, May 12, 2015, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (112:5968–5973; first published April 27, 2015; 10.1073/ pnas.1423080112). The authors note that the following statement should be added to the Acknowledgments: “This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement 324115–FRONTSEM (principal investi- gator, Philippe Schlenker).” www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1600619113 E1326 | PNAS | March 1, 2016 | vol. 113 | no. 9 www.pnas.org Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 Event representations constrain the structure of language: Sign language as a window into universally accessible linguistic biases Brent Stricklanda,b,1, Carlo Geracia, Emmanuel Chemlac, Philippe Schlenkera, Meltem Kelepird, and Roland Pfaue aInstitut Jean Nicod, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France; bLaboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS, 75006 Paris, France; cLaboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France; dDepartment of Linguistics, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul 34342, Turkey; and eDepartment of Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, 1012VT Amsterdam, Netherlands Edited by Lila R. Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, and approved March 3, 2015 (received for review December 3, 2014) According to a theoretical tradition dating back to Aristotle, verbs dynamic events can be classified into two broad grammatical can be classified into two broad categories. Telic verbs (e.g., “decide,” categories: telic and atelic (16–20). -
Biolinguistics Or Physicolinguistics? Is the Third Factor Helpful Or Harmful in Explaining Language?
http://www.diva-portal.org This is the published version of a paper published in Biolinguistics. Citation for the original published paper (version of record): Johansson, S. (2013) Biolinguistics or Physicolinguistics? Is The Third Factor Helpful Or Harmful In Explaining Language?. Biolinguistics, 7: 249-275 Access to the published version may require subscription. N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper. Open Access journal Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-22990 250 S. Johansson But what does it mean to explain language? What kind of understanding should we aim for, and how does this three-way split help us? Generative linguists have long distinguished three levels of theoretical goals in linguistics (Chomsky 1965): • ‘observational adequacy’, that a theory describes language usage.1 • ‘descriptive adequacy’, that a theory accounts for the phenomena observed in adult language competence. • ‘explanatory adequacy’, that a theory accounts for how children can ac- quire adult language competence. The minimalist program entails a desire to move “beyond explanatory adequacy” (Chomsky 2004), adding a new level of theoretical goals, explaining not just what language is like and how it can be acquired, but also explaining in a principled way why it is that way. Chomsky (2007b) associates ‘what’ questions with descriptive adequacy, ‘how’ with explanatory, and ‘why’ with going beyond explanatory. Chomsky (2007b, 2010) calls an account of language “principled” if it goes beyond explanatory adequacy, grounding features of language in general non-linguistic principles, notably principles of efficient computation, which belong to the third factor. -
Interview with Professor CEDRIC BOECKX
Interview with Professor CEDRIC BOECKX (Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies & Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) Cedric Boeckx is a Research Professor at the Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), and a member of the Center for Theoretical Linguistics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Most recently he was an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Harvard University. He is the author and editor of various books on syntax, minimalism and language (from a biolinguistic perspective). He is also the founding co-editor, with Kleanthes K. Grohmann, of the Open Access journal Biolinguistics. The interview came to fruition after we had the idea of asking various linguists the following question: “What is the right place for linguistics?”. At first, we were looking for short, straightforward answers. The question soon proved to be hard to approach that way, and Prof. Cedric Boeckx was kind enough to accept our invitation for a more thorough elaboration on the subject, under the “Interview” section of our journal, which he generously granted us on November 7th, 2011, at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto, a day before his “Introduction to Biolinguistics” workshop, also there, and for which we are also very thankful. This text is a virtually word-for-word transcription of the recorded 2-hour long interview, subject only to minor revisions by our editorial team and some comments by the interviewee. We hope that the final result is of interest to students, researchers and people alike. Pedro Tiago Martins (PTM) After more or less a century without discussing the issue of the origin of the human language – it was even declared as a kind of taboo among linguists – linguistics has recently turned itself again to this area of research. -
What Connects Biolinguistics and Biosemiotics?
What Connects Biolinguistics and Biosemiotics? Prisca Augustyn This paper reviews the background, fundamental questions, current issues, and goals of biolinguistics and biosemiotics. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief history of these movements, to clarify common objectives and areas of overlap, to evaluate recent articulations of their respective future agendas, and to address some aspects of focus and disciplinary prejudice that may stand in the way of productive collaboration concerning the biology of language. Keywords: biolinguistics; biosemiotics; Chomsky; Jacob; Lorenz; Peirce; Sebeok; Uexküll 1. Origins of Biolinguistics and Biosemiotics While the scholarly agendas of biolinguistics and biosemiotics may seem very different in scope, they unequivocally share a common interest in human language as a species-specific cognitive tool. They also share a philosophical core that is anchored in the concepts of Peircean abduction and Uexküllian Umwelt (cf. Augustyn 2009) on the one hand, and an interest in the building blocks of life and its underlying principles that has connected language to research in cell biology (cf. Barbieri 2010) on the other hand. Uexküll’s concept of Umwelt — the subjective species-specific world created by an organism — is central to the ethological approach to human language shared by biolinguists and biosemioticians; and both movements have interacted in different ways with molecular biology to explore the Bauplan of human language and/or the semiotic capacities of various species. Examining the ways in which these interests intersect and diverge in biolinguistics and biosemiotics is the main objective of this paper. Like Peirce, Uexküll approached nature and culture through the analysis of signs and sign processes; and his concept of Funktionskreis has been reinterpreted as a general model of semiosis. -
Biological Pluralism in Service of Biolinguistics
Biological pluralism in service of biolinguistics Pedro Tiago Martins1, Evelina Leivada2, Antonio Ben´ıtez-Burraco3, and Cedric Boeckx2,4 1Pompeu Fabra University 2University of Barcelona 3University of Huelva 4Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies Abstract The aim of this chapter is to offer a fresh perspective on what has come to be known as biolinguistics, a term which, in our view, encompasses all research and methods devoted to the unveiling of the biological foundations of human language. More specifically, our aim is twofold: first, we point out some of the shortcomings of the naive view of biology that has been in place in linguistics since the 1950s and 1960s, namely the notion of the faculty of language as a novelty and the sharp distinction between I- and E-language, which, we contend, has not provided any major insights into the biological nature of language; second, we offer some of the insights from biology, which may provide the theoretical and methodological framework which allows for a truly biological study of language, and thus for a re-hauled biolinguistics Chomsky (1957). 1 Introduction The first sign of a biological orientation for the study of language was the work of Noam Chomsky and Eric Lenneberg, among just a few others, who in the 1950s and 1960s rejected the structuralist linguistics of the time, believing instead that languages, despite meticulously described, were not explained as a natural phenomenon. The overarching assumption of their work is that 1 languages are not learned in the conventional sense of the term (i.e. the way one would learn a craft or how to play a musical instrument), but rather a product of a biologically determined and biologically constrained capacity of humans, located in the brain, which must be innate. -
THE UPS and DOWNS of CHILD LANGUAGE: Experimental Studies
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF CHILD LANGUAGE: Experimental Studies on Children’s Knowledge of Entailment Relations and Polarity Phenomena By Andrea Gualmini Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2003 Advisory Committee: Professor Stephen Crain, Chair/Advisor Professor Norbert Hornstein Professor Paul M. Pietroski Professor Rosalind Thornton Professor John F. Horty, Dean’s Representative © Copyright by Andrea Gualmini 2003 ABSTRACT Title of the Dissertation: The Ups and Downs of Child Language Andrea Gualmini, Doctor of Philosophy, 2003 Dissertation directed by: Stephen Crain, Professor Department of Linguistics Downward Entailment is a semantic property common to many linguistic expressions across natural languages (Ladusaw, 1979). This dissertation takes downward entailment as a yardstick in assessing children’s semantic competence. First, downward entailment is used as a case study for several alternative models of language acquisition, including those recently proposed by Tomasello (2000) and by Pullum and Scholz (2002). According to these researchers, children are initially conservative, and tend to (re)produce linguistic expressions that they have experienced in the input. Even at later stages, when children form generalizations, children’s linguistic generalizations are directly tied to the input, i based on domain general learning mechanisms. These models are contrasted with one based on the principles and parameters of Universal Grammar. In an experimental study using the Truth Value Judgment task (Crain and Thornton, 1998), these alternative models are put to a test by investigating a phenomenon that displays a mismatch between the data available to the child and the semantic competence the child acquires, namely the interaction between downward entailment and c-command. -
Title Experimental Syntax for Biolinguistics? Author(S) Fujita, Koji
Title Experimental Syntax for Biolinguistics? Author(s) Fujita, Koji Citation (2009) Issue Date 2009-11-15 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/87611 Right c Koji Fujita Type Presentation Textversion publisher Kyoto University Language evolution (and development) Experimental Syntax boils down to the emergence of: for Biolinguistics? Recursive Unbounded Merge Interfaces Lexicon Koji Fujita cf. FLN / FLB dichotomy Kyoto University 1 3 Real-time Grammar (Phillips' theses): Biolinguistics: Human language is "implementation Naturalization, or biologization, of human dependent." language faculty (biosyntax, biosemantics, etc.) Grammar is a real-time structure building system. Design Derivation proceeds mostly from left Development (top) to right (bottom). Evolution C. Phillips & S. Lewis. Derivational order in syntax: Evidence and architectural consequences. 2 4 Grammar = Parser? FLN? Competence TP What a cognitive system could achieve John 3 with unbounded resources T 3 VP FLB? Performance John3 saw3 the girl What it can achieve when it is subject to real-life resource limitations Mismatch between derivations and Phylogeny/ontogeny? C. Phillips & M. Wagers. Relating structure and time in linguistics and psycholinguistics. Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics. 5 7 Major Issues: Unbounded Merge "… unbounded Merge is not only a genetically determined property of language, but also unique Mismatch between Theoretical and Psycho-/ to it." Neuro-Linguistics Lack of Comparative Methods "… for both evolution and development, there seems to be little reason to suppose that there were Modularity as an end result of evolution & precursors to unbounded Merge." development - N. Chomsky 6 8 Pirahã: A Language without Recursion? Unbounded, recursive Merge: Competence Cross-linguistic variations: Performance ti gái -sai kó'oi hi kaháp -ií I say-old.info Kó'oi he leave-intention ".. -
Applications of Universal Grammar (UG) in the ESL/EFL Classroom1
Applications of Universal Grammar (UG) in the ESL/EFL Classroom1 Lorne O. Kirkwold ABSTRACT The article proposes Stern's (1983) framework for classifying issues related to instruction in order to ascertain the relevance of Universal Grammar (UG) in the ESL/EFL classroom. Discussed in this article, particularly as UG pertains to them, are issues related to: (a) L1transfer; (b) teaching rules and giving error correction versus presenting structures by analogy; and (c) the extent to which the focus should be content rather than language. The article will be of interest especially to teachers and also SLA researchers. The author draws on some examples in English and French, but then presents his conclusion along with further issues he raises based on his recent experience in Japanese universities. INTRODUCTION H. H. Stern will long be remembered as a prominent language educator at the University of Toronto’s prestigious Ontario Institute for Studies in Education for the contribution he made to research in Canada. In his 1983 Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching, he identified what he perceived as three central issues of language learning: (1) “The L1-L2 connection;” (2) “The explicit - implicit option;” and (3) “The code - communication dilemma” (pp. 400 - 405). These issues as he enumerated them may prove useful as a checklist for classroom teachers for evaluating theoretical framework. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to consider applications of Universal Grammar (UG) which are immediately germane in ESL/EFL instruction. As a definition of UG, Pinker (1995) includes this entry in his glossary: 1 A recent version of this article appears in Studies in Culture, the journal of the Faculty of Humanities, Hokkai- Gakuen University, Sapporo. -
Errors in Indian English: Interlanguage and Focus Constructions
International Journal of English Learning and Teaching Skills; Vol. 1, No. 2; ISSN : 2639-7412 (Print) ISSN : 2638-5546 (Online) ERRORS IN INDIAN ENGLISH: INTERLANGUAGE AND FOCUS CONSTRUCTIONS Anindita Sahoo, Pratiti Palit Indian Institute of Technology Madras Abstract : Language is dynamic; it is unique, creative, complex and modifiable. It grows through permutation and combination of political, social, economic, and environmental factors. Hence, we see a lot of differences in the form of dialects and idiolects. At the same time, if we cast a glance over the international scenario we can find variations from standard British English and American English. It’ll be a herculean task to identify and suggest one standard variety among all the varieties of English being used in the world today; as such there can be nothing that we call ‘Standard English’. Hence by keeping in view the scientific study of Indian English Language, we want to focus our study on errors in a variety of Indian English spoken by the native speakers of Bangla. The contention is that infrequent occurrence of certain linguistic constructions (in this case relative clauses) in one’s native language (NL) leads to errors in the target language (TL). Key Words: Indian English, Interlanguage, Focus constructions, errors, language learning, acquisition Introduction: The object of teaching is to produce learning. This learning leads interest to acquire the skill and knowledge about various aspects of language. Language teaching is basically helping the learner to get a reasonably good command over the four important skills. i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing. English Language Teaching (henceforth ELT) is a vast and dynamic field of study. -
Pidginization Theory and Second Language Learning/Acquisition 73
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Journal of King Saud University – Languages and Translation (2012) 24,71–74 King Saud University Journal of King Saud University – Languages and Translation www.ksu.edu.sa www.sciencedirect.com FULL LENGTH ARTICLE Pidginization theory and second language learning/ acquisition Jasser A. Al-Jasser College of Languages & Transation, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia Received 17 May 2011; accepted 15 February 2012 Available online 27 May 2012 KEYWORDS Abstract The study discusses and evaluates the pidginization theory and shows, through various Pidginization theory; standard and extensive references, how it relates to Second/Foreign language learning. In the intro- Language acquisition; ductory statements, the definition and sources of pidgin(ization) are illustrated. This is followed by Language learning background studies with special reference to the authors who have explored this sociolinguistic phe- nomena. In the discussion section, the linguistic characteristics of the pidginization theory are minutely examined in the context of Second and/or Foreign language learning. In this section, association between some variables such as linguistic universal and simplification, which dominate the structure of pidgin languages and their pedagogic significance, are examined. Finally, in the concluding remarks it is reasonably inferred that there is an analogy between pid- ginization theory and the early stages of Foreign/Second language acquisition, and Creolization (i.e. end result of pidginization) and the later stages of Foreign/Second language acquisition. ª 2012 King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. -
Is the Third Factor Helpful Or Harmful in Explaining Language?
Biolinguistics or Physicolinguistics? Is the Third Factor Helpful or Harmful in Explaining Language? Sverker Johansson Noam Chomsky (2005) proposed that a ‘third factor’, consisting of general principles and natural laws, may explain core properties of language in a principled manner, minimizing the need for either genetic endowment or experience. But the focus on third-factor patterns in much recent bio- linguistic work is misguided for several reasons: First, ‘the’ third factor is a vague and disparate collection of unrelated components, useless as an analytical tool. Second, the vagueness of the third factor, together with the desire for principled explanations, too often leads to sweeping claims, such as syntax “coming for free, directly from physics”, that are unwarranted without a case-by-case causal analysis. Third, attention is diverted away from a proper causal analysis of language as a biological feature. The point with biolinguistics is to acknowledge the language faculty as a biological feature. The best way forward towards an understanding of language is to take the biology connection seriously, instead of dabbling with physics. Keywords: causal analysis; Fibonacci; natural law; physics; third factor 1. Explaining Language — Principled and Causal Explanations Chomsky (2005) identifies three separate factors that can jointly explain the language faculty in the human brain: (1) Genetic endowment, the “universal grammar” (UG). (2) Experience, the stimulus available to the language learners. (3) The ‘third factor’, principles not specific to the faculty of language. Helpful comments from Rie Asano and two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. The current structure of the paper is largely due to constructive suggestions from one of the reviewers. -
The Growth of Language: Universal Grammar, Experience, and Principles of Computation
G Model NBR-2698; No. of Pages 18 ARTICLE IN PRESS Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/neubiorev Review article The growth of language: Universal Grammar, experience, and principles of computation a,∗ b c d e,f Charles Yang , Stephen Crain , Robert C. Berwick , Noam Chomsky , Johan J. Bolhuis a Department of Linguistics and Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania, 619 Williams Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19081, USA b Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, and ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, Australia c Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA d Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge MA, USA e Cognitive Neurobiology and Helmholtz Institute, Departments of Psychology and Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands f Department of Zoology and St. Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge, UK a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Human infants develop language remarkably rapidly and without overt instruction. We argue that the Received 13 September 2016 distinctive ontogenesis of child language arises from the interplay of three factors: domain-specific prin- Received in revised form ciples of language (Universal Grammar), external experience, and properties of non-linguistic domains 10 November 2016 of cognition including general learning mechanisms and principles of efficient computation. We review Accepted 16 December 2016 developmental evidence that children make use of hierarchically composed structures (‘Merge’) from the Available online xxx earliest stages and at all levels of linguistic organization.