Uniformity, Economy, and Simplicity in Minimalism

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2011

Perhaps more clearly than any other field, the study of child language acquisition highlights the continuity from the Principles & Parameters framework to the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995). As is the case for all meaningful theoretical developments, under Minimalism new challenges emerge, puzzles are cast under different lights, while important insights from previous work can still be retained; this chapter provides an overview of these issues. The first part builds on the continuity from P&P to Minimalism, with focus on the role of parameters in the theory of language acquisition and the mechanisms of learning. The second part turns to the Minimalist innovations, specifically how the new formulations of the syntactic system bring new tools to the explanation of child language. The P&P framework, for the first time, gives a plausible solution to the logical problem of language acquisition: How the child acquires a language so rapidly and accurately  Thanks to all of our students and colleagues. The authors' names are ordered as to reflect the organization of the article.

Linguistic theory, if conceived as providing a framework for grammars that are mental representations of linguistic competence, should constitute an important part of a theory of language development, i.e., a theory of how cltildren acquire language. Despite this obvious point and the recent proliferation of developmental psycholinguistic literature, there exists a gap between studies of linguistic theory and of language development in children. This dissertation 1s one attempt to fill this gap between the two fields. The aim of this dissertation 1s to test experimentally whether some alleged linguistic universals in recent theories of generative grammar play a role in language development in children. We have Note to Chapter 1 Chpater 2 Aspects of a Theory of Language Development Chapter 1 Introd'1ction 2 4 6 9 Part II Chapter 3 3.1 3.2 Chapter 4 2.1 Basic Framework 2.2 Aspects of a Theory of Language Development 2.3 Connecting Developmental Data with Linguistic Theory: An example 2.4 Innate Linguistic Endowment and Language Development 33 2.5 State of the Art in Linguistic Theory and Experimental 36 Research 2.6 Methodology 39 Notes to Chapter 2 General Remarks Logic of the Experiments Experimental Groups Subjacency Condition and Syntactic Development in Children 4.1 Subjacency Condition 4.2 Experiment 1 4.3 Other Related Experiments 4.3.1 Experiment A 4.3.2 Experiment B 104 Appendix A Development of Complex Structures in Children: 117 A Survey of Recent Research and Our Theory 4.A.l

1970

The minimalist program is in part a reaction to some problems that have afflicted GB theory. A theory of grammar introduced by Chomsky in 1995 as an advance on government/binding theory while remaining within the general paradigm of the principle and parameters model of universal grammar. The cornerstone of the theory is that grammars should make use of the minimal theoretical apparatus necessary to provide a characterization of linguistic phenomena that meets the criterion of descriptive adequacy. This goal is motivated in part by the desire to minimize the acquisition burden faced by children and account for the fact that children will acquire any language they are exposed to. MP consists of three important characteristics: economy, simplicity and uniformity. The present study tries to investigate three important characteristics of minimalist program, i.e. economy, uniformity and simplicity by analyzing them from minimalist point of view and regarding different principles which he...

Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 2007

Infancia y Aprendizaje, 2011

Is early child language inherently simple, and gradually adds complexity with specific experience? Or do initial grammars carry indications of complex grammar from the outset-not visible from experience, as the classic "Poverty of Stimulus argument" claims? (Chomsky (1965)). Do developmental processes simply refine the full grammar hidden within the initial representations or is there no grammar at the beginning? While the last four decades of research have yielded a body of sophisticated observations on child syntax, the most relevant fact is given to us by direct observation: by the middle of the second year of their life, children start joining words together into their first simple sentences, and within a matter of three years, the diversity and creativity of their sentences matches adult complexity. At the core of this discussion on complexity lies the question of the interaction between lexicon and syntax in development. Two contrasting paradigms articulate how these two components interact in development, yielding contrasting views of complexity in early child language. We characterize these below in very general terms: Simple syntax. Grammar is learned by general learning mechanisms. Under this view, complexity is an emergent property, a by-product of lexical learning. The initial grammatical production of children is stored, and lacks both abstraction and complexity. These emerge later, as a process of generalization and grammaticalization that takes place once the lexicon achieves sufficient richness. Abstract syntax. Even at the earliest stages, there is syntactic complexity. Children's early production may be grammatically conservative, constrained in production and operating with a restricted lexicon, but it still demonstrates abstraction, generative capacity, and principled behavior. These approaches can be summarized: 1. Regularities in grammar are an acquired from experience itself versus

European Journal of Language and Literature, 2017

This paper aims to discuss the two main approaches to language acquisition and present the main ideas behind the nativist and the usage-based account. The concomitant argument between the two sides has been present in linguistics ever since the proposal of innateness was provided by the paradigm of mainstream generative grammar (Chomsky 1965). In order to contribute to the ongoing discussion, we will attempt to outline the main challenges that the both theoretical strands are faced with and provide an overview of syntactic evidence provided by linguists whose work was devoted to understanding the mechanisms of language acquisition. Our goal is to analyze the insights provided by the phenomena such as syntactic bootstrapping, poverty of the stimulus, multiple argument realizations and non-canonical syntactic constructions and argue that integrating these findings into a usage-based framework (Tomasello 2000, 2003 - 2009) or various instances of Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995 - 1...

Graeme Trousdale and Thomas Hoffmann (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar, 347-364. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2012

plc.psychologia.pl

2017