Language acquisition from a biolinguistic perspective

Crain, Stephen; Koring, Loes; Thornton, Rosalind

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.09.004

Cited by 29 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The computation chooses the structurally first (highest) auxiliary for inversion, not the one that happens to be embedded in the subject (at arbitrary depth), despite the fact that identification of the linearly first auxiliary is computationally straightforward. No other hypothesis is ever considered by the child, and consequently cases such as (5) are not attested in children's production (Crain & Nakayama 1987;Crain et al 2017):…”

Section: Basic Properties Of I-languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approaches of this kind assume that language acquisition is essentially a matter of memorization and minimal generalizations over a large database. We will not evaluate the specific claims made by these proposals here, as this task has been undertaken elsewhere Crain et al 2017). The approaches fail invariably both at adequately capturing the phenomena they focus on and, more fundamentally, at addressing the only theoretically relevant question: why do languages universally adopt structure-dependent operations while avoiding, in all relevant cases, far simpler computational operations based on linear order?…”

Section: Basic Properties Of I-languagementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

La gramàtica generativa i la facultat del llenguatge: descobriments, preguntes i desafiaments

Chomsky

Gallego

Ott

2019

catJL

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper provides an overview of what we take to be the key current issues in the field of Generative Grammar, the study of the human Faculty of Language. We discuss some of the insights this approach to language has produced, including substantial achievements in the understanding of basic properties of language and its interactions with interfacing systems. This progress in turn gives rise to new research questions, many of which could not even be coherently formulated until recently. We highlight some of the most pressing outstanding challenges, in the hope of inspiring future research. Resum. La gramàtica generativa i la facultat del llenguatge: descobriments, preguntes i desafiamentsAquest treball proporciona una visió general dels aspectes clau actuals en el camp de la gramàtica generativa: l'estudi de la facultat del llenguatge humà. Es tractaran algunes de les visions a què aquest enfocament del llenguatge ha donat lloc, incloent-hi èxits importants en la comprensió de * For feedback and suggestions, we are indebted to

show abstract

Section: Basic Properties Of I-languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Basic Properties Of I-languagementioning

confidence: 99%

La gramàtica generativa i la facultat del llenguatge: descobriments, preguntes i desafiaments

Chomsky

Gallego

Ott

2019

catJL

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In particular, children's non-adult interpretation of sentences with disjunction, internal negation and a modal expression reflects an initial setting of a lexical parameter. According to the parameter, the Mandarin disjunction word huozhe 'or' is a PPI for adults, but not for young children (e.g., Crain et al, 2016). That is, the lexical parameter of Mandarin disjunction has two values.…”

Section: General Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negation and Free Choice Inference in Child Mandarin

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In sentences with internal negation, Free Choice Inferences (FCIs) are canceled (Chierchia, 2013). The present study investigated the possibility that FCIs are negated, not canceled, by external negation. In previous research, both Mandarin-speaking children and adults were found to license FCIs in affirmative sentences with a modal verb and the disjunction word huozhe 'or' (Zhou et al., 2013). The present study contrasted internal versus external negation in sentences that contained all the ingredients needed to license FCIs. Four experiments were conducted using the Truth Value Judgment Task (Crain and Thornton, 1998). Experiment 1 tested Mandarin-speaking children and adults using sentences with internal negation, a modal verb and disjunction. As expected, children did not license FCIs; rather, they assigned a 'neither' interpretation to disjunction. Also as expected, adults analyzed disjunction as taking scope over internal negation, yielding a 'not both' interpretation (Jing et al., 2005). Experiment 1 provided the benchmarks for sentences with external negation in Experiments 2-4. Experiment 2 confirmed that English-speaking adults distinguish between internal and external negation in sentences with disjunction. In Experiment 3, external negation was conveyed by the focus adverb zhiyou 'only'. External negation eliminated the between-group differences observed in Experiment 1. Both children and adults analyzed external negation as taking scope over disjunction. Experiment 4 tested the effect of external negation on the computation of FCIs. The test sentences only differed from Experiment 1 by using external negation, rather than internal negation. Again, children and adults interpreted the test sentences in the same way. Most importantly, in contrast to Experiment 1 (with internal negation), both groups analyzed external negation as negating, rather than canceling, FCIs. The findings support the distinction between internal and external negation.

show abstract

“…Second, under the variational model, children's systematic deviation from the target grammar may be attributed to non-target hypotheses before their eventual demise; see Crain et al (2016) for a recent review. Naturally, this perspective is only as good as what we take to be the space of linguistically possible hypotheses available to a child.…”

Section: The Variational Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

A formalist perspective on language acquisition

Yang

2018

LAB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Language acquisition is a computational process by which linguistic experience is integrated into the learner’s initial stage of knowledge. To understand language acquisition thus requires precise statements about these components and their interplay, stepping beyond the philosophical and methodological disputes such as the generative vs. usage-based approaches. I review several mathematical models that have guided the study of child language acquisition: How learners integrate experience with their prior knowledge of linguistic structures, How researchers assess the progress of language acquisition with rigor and clarity, and How children form the rules of language even in the face of exceptions. I also suggest that these models are applicable to second language acquisition (L2), yielding potentially important insights on the continuities and differences between child and adult language.

show abstract

Language acquisition from a biolinguistic perspective

Cited by 29 publications

References 45 publications

La gramàtica generativa i la facultat del llenguatge: descobriments, preguntes i desafiaments

La gramàtica generativa i la facultat del llenguatge: descobriments, preguntes i desafiaments

Negation and Free Choice Inference in Child Mandarin

A formalist perspective on language acquisition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About