Principles and Parameters Theory and Language Acquisition
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
1. the Theory of Government in Phonology
VOCALIC ELEMENTS IN PHONOLOGY A STUDY IN MUNSTER IRISH Eugeniusz Cyran (1995) Department of Celtic Catholic University of Lublin Supervisor: Prof. Edmund Gussmann Appeared as: Resonance Elements in Phonology. A Study in Munster Irish (1997), Folium: Lublin 2 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Abbreviations and phonetic symbols..................................................................................... 0 Preface 0 1. ISSUES IN GOVERNMENT PHONOLOGY 1.1. Introduction............................................................................................................................ 0 1.2. Conditions on phonological government............................................................................... 0 1.2.1 Formal conditions...................................................................................................... 0 1.2.2. Substantive conditions.............................................................................................. 0 1.3. Proper Government................................................................................................................ 0 1.4. Phonological licensing........................................................................................................... 0 1.4.1. Prosodic licensing..................................................................................................... 0 1.4.2. Autosegmental licensing........................................................................................... 0 1.5. Phonological elements .......................................................................................................... -
Children's First Language Acquisition
School of Humanities Department of English Children’s first language acquisition What is needed for children to acquire language? BA Essay Erla Björk Guðlaugsdóttir Kt.: 160790-2539 Supervisor: Þórhallur Eyþórsson May 2016 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Anatomy 5 2.1 Language production areas in the brain 5 2.2. Organs of speech and speech production 6 3 Linguistic Nativism 10 3.1 Language acquisition device (LAD) 11 3.2 Universal Grammar (UG) 12 4 Arguments that support Chomsky’s theory 14 4.1 Poverty of stimulus 14 4.2 Uniformity 15 4.3 The Critical Period Hypothesis 17 4.4 Species significance 18 4.5 Phonological impairment 19 5 Arguments against Chomsky’s theory 21 6 Conclusion 23 References 24 Table of figures Figure 1 Summary of classification of the organs of speech 7 Figure 2 The difference between fully grown vocal tract and infant's vocal tract 8 Figure 3 Universal Grammar’s position within Chomsky’s theory 13 Abstract Language acquisition is one of the most complex ability that human species acquire. It has been a burning issue that has created tension between scholars from various fields of professions. Scholars are still struggling to comprehend the main factors about language acquisition after decades of multiple different theories that were supposed to shed a light on the truth of how human species acquire language acquisition. The aim of this essay is to explore what is needed for children to acquire language based on Noam Chomsky theory of language acquisition. I will cover the language production areas of the brain and how they affect language acquisition. -
A Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology
University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 16 Issue 1 Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Penn Article 10 Linguistics Colloquium 2010 Comparing Incomparable Frameworks: A Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology Thomas Graf University of California, Los Angeles Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl Recommended Citation Graf, Thomas (2010) "Comparing Incomparable Frameworks: A Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology," University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 16 : Iss. 1 , Article 10. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol16/iss1/10 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol16/iss1/10 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Comparing Incomparable Frameworks: A Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology Abstract In previous work, we used techniques from mathematical logic and model theory to study and compare two phonological theories, SPE and Government Phonology. The surprising result was that Government Phonology corresponds to a very weak fragment of SPE, yet it can attain the full expressivity of the latter through more powerful mechanisms of feature spreading. An issue that we didn't elaborate on, however, is the question of what this increase in expressivity buys us in terms of empirical coverage, which we pick up in this paper. Again making good use of our model theoretic techniques, we investigate two phonological phenomena --- Sanskrit n-retroflexion and primary stress assignment in Creek and Cairene Arabic --- and show how much power feature spreading has to be granted in any descriptively adequate account which does not invoke additional technical machinery. These technical results are accompanied by reflections on the elationr between empirically minded theory comparisons and the model theoretic approach. -
The Role of Input Revisited: Nativist Versus Usage-Based Models
UC Berkeley L2 Journal Title The role of input revisited: Nativist versus usage-based models Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/647983hc Journal L2 Journal, 1(1) Author Zyzik, Eve Publication Date 2009 DOI 10.5070/l2.v1i1.9056 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California L2 Journal, Volume 1 (2009), pp. 42‐61 http://repositories.cdlib.org/uccllt/l2/vol1/iss1/art4 The Role of Input Revisited: Nativist versus Usage-Based Models EVE ZYZIK University of California, Santa Cruz Email: [email protected] This article examines the role of input in two contrasting theories of language acquisition: nativist (UG) theory and the usage-based (emergentist) approach. Although extensive treat- ments of input are available for first language acquisition (cf. Gathercole & Hoff, 2007), such research rarely incorporates findings from second language acquisition. Accordingly, this paper examines a range of linguistic phenomena from both first and second language contexts (e.g., yes-no question formation, constraints on want-to contraction) in order to illustrate how each theory might explain their acquisition. The discussion of input presented here addresses various constructs, including the problem of the poverty of the stimulus, the lack of negative evidence, the role of indirect (missing) evidence, recovery from overgener- alization, and frequency effects. The article concludes with a reappraisal of the poverty of the stimulus problem in SLA from a usage-based perspective. _______________ Recent publications in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) show a marked trend towards usage-based approaches to describe the development of linguistic knowl- edge (cf. -
'Poverty of the Stimulus' Revisited
‘Poverty of the Stimulus’ Revisited: Recent Challenges Reconsidered Robert C. Berwick ([email protected]) Department of EECS and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, 32D-728, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Noam Chomsky ([email protected]) Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, 32D-840, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Introduction: The “Poverty of the Stimulus” to examples such as (1), but does not generalize correctly to (2), whereas (B) leads to the correct generalization. Children A central goal of modern generative grammar has been to and adult grammars select (B), indicating that structure discover the invariant properties of language, principles dependence is part of the a priori schematism cited earlier. presumably “part of the innate schematism of mind that is applied to the data of experience” and that “might reasonably be attributed to the organism itself as its Recent Challenges to the POS Reconsidered contribution to the task of the acquisition of knowledge” Some recent research challenges this particular AFP- (Chomsky, 1971). One such putative principle is the grounded POS argument. For example, Perfors, structure dependence of grammatical rules generally, Tennenbaum & Regier (2006) assert that “dependence of including rules of question formation. One argument for linguistic rules on hierarchical phrase structure” could be this position, presented in Chomsky (1968), is sometimes learned “given typical child-redirected input,” thereby called an ‘argument from the poverty of the stimulus’ (POS) defusing the POS argument. But this challenge, like the since the sample data for selecting a correct target others cited, is flawed. The POS argument was formulated hypothesis does not seem rich enough without positing a on the assumption that hierarchical structure was the right priori the principle in question. -
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. -
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. -
Conditions on Nuclear Expressions in Phonology
CONDITIONS ON NUCLEAR EXPRESSIONS IN PHONOLOGY by MARGARET COBB Submitted to the Department of Linguistics in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF LONDON March 1997 ProQuest Number: 10752726 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10752726 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT This thesis aims to provide a principled account of the distribution of ‘tense’/Tax’, and ‘high’/Tow’ vowels in vowel harmony systems. It is based on the principles and parameters of Government Phonology in which variation is accounted for by possible combinations of parameter settings. To explain variation in ‘tense’/lax’ and TiighV’low’ distribution, I exploit the interaction of the parametric aspects of three universal mechanisms: Licensing Constraints, Head-licensing (both Kaye (1993b)), and the Complexity Condition (Harris (1990a)). The type of language data this thesis seeks to account for has received some attention in the phonological literature, in terms of other frameworks as well as Government Phonology. -
Ling 51/Psych 56L: Acquisition of Language
Ling 51/Psych 56L: Acquisition of Language Lecture 3 The study of language acquisition Announcements Be working on the review questions and HW1 HW1 is due 10/6/17 at 2:50pm TA office hours are now available and active (so come visit!) Theoretical viewpoints The question “It is obvious that children have some quality of mind that explains why they learn to talk but kittens, for example, do not” – Hoff 2008, p.254 Not obvious what this quality is. Idea 1: Children have specialized (domain-specific) knowledge about how language works. Idea 2: Children’s domain-general cognitive processes allow them to acquire language while a kitten’s do not. Chomskyan revolution Chomsky 1957: Syntactic Structures Innovation: What speakers do is not as interesting as the mental grammar that underlies what speakers do So, if adults have a mental grammar that explains what they do when they talk, children must have a mental grammar that explains what children do when they talk. New formation of language development: What are children’s grammars like and how do they eventually achieve adult grammars? Chomskyan revolution h[ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cgpfw4z8cw Especially 0:24-1:35 Some current approaches Language as a complex cognitive system that maps sounds to meaning One idea for the mechanism behind this process: Language Acquisition Device LAD Information from the environment Language Acquisition Language Acquisition Device (unconscious process inside child’s mind, used only for learning language) Some current approaches Linguistic nativist (generativist) approach Knowledge Premise: LAD contains some domain-specific specifically about knowledge about the structure of language (this is human language often called Universal Grammar). -
The SPE-Heritage of Optimality Theory
The SPE-heritage of Optimality Theory HARRY VAN DER HÜLST AND NANCY A. RITTER Abstract In this article, we start out discussing the issue of how many phonological levels one might like to distinguish. In addition, we discuss how each level is charac- terized and how the mapping between levels is handled. Then, against the back- ground of a more general discussion of constraint-based approaches to phonol- ogy, we assess phonological Optimality Theory (OT), arguing that this theory is formulated within the conceptual framework of Standard Generative Phonology (SGP) and thus has not freed itself from its SPE-heritage. By implicitly adopting many aspects ofSPE (such as an intra-lavel input/output distinction and one holis- tic mechanism), OT compares unfavorably with other available constraint-based models in needing the notion of extrinsic ordering and failing to characterize the notion of what a possible language is. 1. Introduction The purpose of this article is to assess phonological Optimality Theory (OT) in the context of a broad discussion of both other constraint-based phonological theories as well as the preceding derivational theories that stem from the tradition of The Sound Pattern of English (SPE; Chomsky and Halle 1968). Our main conclusion will be that OT is closer in its basic design to SPE than to the other constraint-based models that are its contemporaries. In section 2 of this article, we first discuss different views of phonological lev- els of representation, converging on a view that acknowledges more than one level, while lacking the notion of an intra-level input/output distinction. -
Sounds Difficult? Why Phonological Theory Needs 'Ease of Articulation'
SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics Vol. 14 (2006): 207-226 Sounds difficult? Why phonological theory needs ‘ease of articulation’ David Shariatmadari [email protected] Introduction In this paper I will try to show that theories of phonological structure must incorporate some measure of phonetic naturalness, specifically the idea that there exists a tendency to conserve energy in the use of the articulatory organs, with ‘easy’ sounds being those that require less physical effort to produce on the part of the speaker. I will call this the Ease of Articulation Hypothesis (EoA) 1. A strong form of EoA would state that articulatory phonetics is the sole motivating factor for sound patterns including the structure of phonemic inventories, phonotactics and morphophonemic variation. This is clearly false. If it were the case, phonology would be indistinguishable from phonetics. There would be no reason for a given phonological process not to apply in all languages, since all human beings have the same vocal apparatus and what is phonetically natural for a speaker of Turkish must also be phonetically natural for a speaker of Japanese. And yet, there are clearly many phonological differences between these two, and among all other languages. In contrast, a weak version of EoA might hold that articulation is one of a number of pressures competing for influence over the shape of the speech string. Some of the time it will win out. Whether or not it does depends, crucially, on the structure of the language concerned. Since every language has a different structure, the way in which phonetic influence is felt will be different for every language.