Showing papers on "Universal grammar published in 2017"

The Oxford handbook of universal grammar

Abstract: This handbook provides a critical guide to the most central proposition in modern linguistics: the notion, generally known as Universal Grammar, that a universal set of structural principles underlies the grammatical diversity of the world's languages. Part I considers the implications of Universal Grammar for philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, and examines the history of the theory. Part II focuses on linguistic theory, looking at topics such as explanatory adequacy and how phonology and semantics fit into Universal Grammar. Parts III and IV look respectively at the insights derived from UG-inspired research on language acquisition, and at comparative syntax and language typology, while part V considers the evidence for Universal Grammar in phenomena such as creoles, language pathology, and sign language. The book will be a vital reference for linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists. --

The many errors of Vyvyan Evans' the Language Myth

Abstract: Abstract Vyvyan Evans’ The Language Myth argues that Chomsky’s program of Universal Grammar (UG) is “completely wrong,” and it has attracted much recent discussion, some of it laudatory. We set out what we take to be its many serious errors, including: (i) a misunderstanding of the empirical character of the evidence that Chomsky and other generativists have adduced for UG, in English as well as in many other languages, coupled with a mistaken claim that the theory is unfalsifiable; (ii) a confusion of superficial typological universals, or features present at the surface of all of the world’s languages, with UG features that are apparent only under analysis; and (iii) a failure to appreciate the significance of Fine Thoughts (the things one cannot say in natural languages, even though it would be clear what they would mean) as critical evidence of UG, and of the difficulties presented by them for the kinds of “language-as-use” and related empiricist theories that he favors. Indeed, Evans also (iv) fails to address the issues of competence and constraints that are raised by Fine Thoughts and that are a central concern of UG; and (v) conflates UG with a computational theory of mind, a Fodorean conception of modules and a Pinkerean interest in the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Functionally Equivalent Variants in a Non-standard Variety and Their Implications for Universal Grammar: A Spontaneous Speech Corpus

Abstract: Findings from the field of experimental linguistics have shown that a native speaker may judge a variant that is part of her grammar as unacceptable, but still use it productively in spontaneous speech. The process of eliciting acceptability judgments from speakers of non-standard languages is sometimes clouded by factors akin to prescriptive notions of grammatical correctness. It has been argued that standardization enhances the ability to make clear-cut judgments, while non-standardization may result to grammatical hybridity, often manifested in the form of functionally equivalent variants in the repertoire of a single speaker. Recognizing the importance of working with corpora of spontaneous speech, this work investigates patterns of variation in the spontaneous production of five neurotypical, adult speakers of a non-standard variety in terms of three variants, each targeting one level of linguistic analysis: syntax, morphology, and phonology. The results reveal the existence of functionally equivalent variants across speakers and levels of analysis. We first discuss these findings in relation to the notions of competing, mixed, and fused grammars, and then we flesh out the implications that different values of the same variant carry for parametric approaches to Universal Grammar. We observe that intraspeaker realizations of different values of the same variant within the same syntactic environment are incompatible with the ‘triggering-a-single-value’ approach of parametric models, but we argue that they are compatible with the concept of Universal Grammar itself. Since the analysis of these variants is ultimately a way of investigating the status of Universal Grammar primitives, we conclude that claims about the alleged unfalsifiability of (the contents of) Universal Grammar are unfounded.

Emergent Knowledge of a Universal Phonological Principle in the L2 Acquisition of Vowel Harmony in Turkish: A "Four"-Fold Poverty of the Stimulus in L2 Acquisition.

Abstract: A significant body of theoretically motivated research has addressed the role of Universal Grammar (UG) in the nonnative acquisition of morphosyntax and properties of the syntax–semantics interface...

In the beginning: A review of Robert C. Berwick and Noam Chomsky's Why Only Us.

Abstract: We review Berwick and Chomsky's Why Only Us, Language and Evolution, a book premised on language as an instrument primarily of thought, only secondarily of communication. The authors conclude that a Universal Grammar can be reduced to three biologically isolated components, whose computational system for syntax was the result of a single mutation that occurred about 80,000 years ago. We question that argument because it ignores the origin of words, even though Berwick and Chomsky acknowledge that words evolved before grammar. It also fails to explain what evolutionary problem language uniquely solved (Wallace's question). To answer that question, we review recent discoveries about the ontogeny and phylogeny of words. Ontogenetically, two modes of nonverbal relation between infant and mother begin at or within 6 months of birth that are crucial antecedents of the infant's first words: intersubjectivity and joint attention. Intersubjectivity refers to rhythmic shared affect between infant and caretaker(s) that develop during the first 6 months. When the infant begins to crawl, they begin to attend jointly to environmental objects. Phylogenetically, Hrdy and Bickerton describe aspects of Homo erectus' ecology and cognition that facilitated the evolution of words. Hrdy shows how cooperative breeding established trust between infant and caretakers, laying the groundwork for a community of mutual trust among adults. Bickerton shows how 'confrontational scavenging' led to displaced reference, whereby an individual communicated the nature of a dead animal and its location to members of the group that could not see it. Thus, both phylogenetically and ontogenetically, the original function of language was primarily an instrument of communication. Rejecting Berwick and Chomsky's answer to Wallace's question that syntax afforded better planning and inference, we endorse Bickerton's view that language enabled speakers to refer to objects not immediately present. Thus arose context-free mental representations, unique to human language and thought.

Universal Grammar Theory and Language Acquisition: Evidence from the Null Subject Parameter

Abstract: This article introduces the Universal-Grammar-based (UG) theory of language acquisition. It focuses on parameters, both as a theoretical construct and in relation to first-language acquisition (L1A). The null subject parameter is used to illustrate how languages vary and explain how a child’s grammar develops into adult grammar over time. The article is structured as follows: the first section outlines crucial ideas that are relevant to language acquisition in generative linguistics, such as the notions of competence, performance, critical period, and language faculty. Section two introduces and discusses the content of language faculty from the perspectives of the Principles and Parameters Theory and the Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory . This section also briefly describes the contrast among languages in regard to whether or not they allow empty categories in subject position in finite clauses. The third section first discusses how children are hypothesised to acquire their native language (L1). Then, in light of findings from the early null subject phenomenon, this section empirically examines the content of grammars that are developed by children at various developmental stages until they acquire the appropriate value for the null subject parameter. The final section highlights the important role of UG theory to L1A.

Morality between nativism and behaviorism: (Innate) intersubjectivity as a response to John Mikhail’s “universal moral grammar”

Abstract: The thesis of an innate Universal Moral Grammar (‘UMG’) relies upon an analogy to the thesis of a universal grammar of the human faculty of language in linguistics. Drawing upon this faculty, John Mikhail, among others, argues that we humans have an inborn moral grammar. In this article this fascinating thesis is juxtaposed with counter-perspectives from the various fields on which it is based, with substantial criticism from such fields as neurobiology, evolutionary and developmental psychology, and philosophy leaving ample space for doubting UMG and especially its claimed innateness. In methodological terms, Mikhail suggested using collective evidence from the various disciplines to prove the hypothesis of an innate UMG as there is not sufficient substantial support for UMG within each discipline alone. This multi- and interdisciplinary approach is also contested in this article. In lieu of UMG this article proposes thinking of intersubjectivity in order to deal with the origins and development of the biological set-up of human morality. In so doing it refers to Colwyn Trevarthen’s concept of primary, secondary, and tertiary intersubjectivity, which is gaining more and more in popularity. This enables us, so runs the argument, to align morality and its development with core concepts of (developmental) psychology. Such an understanding of morality furthermore lays bare the origins of moral normativity, which is essential in order to evaluate moral behavior.

Esperanto linguistics: State of the art

Abstract: Esperanto is an unusual language in many ways. First, it was originally created artificially, in a highly multilingual environment. Secondly, it was designed with the express purpose of becoming a language of interlingual communication, a language easy to learn for people from the widest range of linguistic backgrounds. Although it never became a universal lingua franca, Esperanto now has up to 2 million users and a sizeable number of native speakers. Yet even for such native speakers, Esperanto is never their only language. Its use is limited to certain domains, and for the overwhelming majority of its speakers, including native ones, Esperanto is not their dominant language. These facts may make Esperanto and Esperanto speakers useful in tests of the robustness of generalizations about linguistic typology, Universal Grammar, first and second language acquisition, language contact and creolization, variation and change. This article provides an overview of work that has been done to date on these topics.

On the Origins of Phonology

Abstract: Why do humans drink and drive but fail to rdink and rdive? Here, I suggest that these regularities could reflect abstract phonological principles that are active in the minds and brains of all spea...

Emergent phonological constraints: The acquisition of *COMPLEX in English

Abstract: Emergent Phonology seeks to minimize the role of Universal Grammar in linguistics by investigating how units such as distinctive features, segments, words, morphemes, and syllables, and other aspects of grammar, such as phonological, morphological or syntactic rules and conditions, emerge in the course of acquisition and language use, rather than as part of an innate language capacity. An obvious candidate for being acquired rather than being innate are the phonological constraints that take a central place in Optimality Theory. In this paper I discuss whether, and if so how, a constraint like *COMPLEX ‘No complex onsets’, which is assumed to be active in the acquisition of English and many other languages, could be acquired on the basis of the data to which the English language-learning child is exposed. If this constraint is acquired, it lessens the burden on any innate capacity, which is hypothesized to contain more general, cognitive strategies—perhaps not exclusive to linguistics.

Revisiting the Null Subject Parameter: New Insights from Afro-Peruvian Spanish

Abstract: With the advent of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995), the prevailing view of linguistic variation and contrast within universal Grammar has undergone a shift from rigidly defined parameters ˗associated with clusters of properties (Chomsky 1981; Chomsky & Lasnik 1993)˗ to an approach in which features play a central role, are flexibly distributed, and originate in the lexicon, according to what Baker (2008) calls the "Borer-Chomsky conjecture" (Borer 1984; Chomsky 2001). A closer cross linguistic look at empirical data seems to support this change in focus. The Null Subject Parameter (NSP) (Chomsky 1981; Rizzi 1982), as originally formulated, had a number of shortcomings (cf. Huang 1994; Holmberg 2005). Within the realm of Spanish and Portuguese, two dialects that do not follow the predictions of the NSP are Dominican Spanish (DS) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP). The analysis of these varieties has led to the postulation of new hypotheses to account for their unexpected syntactic patterns (cf. Duarte 1993; Toribio 2000; Camacho 2008; etc.). The present study pays attention to yet another dialect of Spanish that does not conform to the NSP, Chinchano Spanish (CS), an Afro-Hispanic variety spoken in Chincha, Peru. In so doing, this paper provides an analysis of null and overt subjects that partially deviates from previous accounts of similar pro-drop phenomena. Additionally, this study proposes a model of contact-induced language transmission that explains why CS –as well as many other Afro-Hispanic languages of the Americas (AHLAs)– presents patterns that do not align this dialect with either null-subject languages (NSLs) like Italian or non-null-subject languages (NNSLs) like English.

SVO, (silent) topics and the interpretation of referential pro: a discourse-syntax interface approach

Abstract: The issue of how a null subject (or argumental pro) is licensed and interpreted has been a matter of debate in syntactic theory for decades. Participating in this debate, this paper proposes a novel approach to the licensing and interpretation of the referential 3 (person) pro/topic in human languages, based on discourse-syntax interface. I provide evidence from across languages that the antecedent of the dropped pro/topic is a (silent) preverbal DP. I show that this DP is an aboutness-topic, merged in the C-domain, specifically in the Specifier of the Topic Phrase, where Topic Phrase is assumed to be a phase whose head, i.e. Topic, is endowed with an aboutness feature. Based on interpretation motivations, the aboutness feature counts as an Edge Feature, which requires merging a (silent) aboutness-topic in Spec,TopP, hence yielding a discourse property and coreferentially correlating the given aboutness-topic with the argumental pro in Spec, v P. Evidence is provided that pro enters the derivation with valued, but uninterpretable features. These valued features (of pro) value T’s unvalued features via agree. The uninter - pretable features of pro are interpreted by the interpretable features of the A-topic via agree as Match. As a result, pro is interpreted as a definite 3 person pronoun. The paper also provides empirical evidence that pro can be locally and nonlocally coreferentially correlated with the A-topic via matching A`-chains. A (Silent) A-topic Principle is proposed as a Universal Grammar condition, which is necessitated by interpretive and performative requirements. Given this Universal Grammar property, the Silent A-topic Principle licenses (silent) A-topics as antecedents for pros/dropped topics across human languages

Rethinking the Universal Grammar and How to Teach Syntax to Thai Students

Abstract: X (X-Bar) The present paper aims to rethink the usefulness of the Universal Grammar (UG) in teaching the English syntax to Thai students The UG is the shared syntax of all languages, but syntaxes of languages are different because they contain their own parameters When compared, sentences of two languages can be classified into the same, similar, and different The same and similar sentence patterns could be said to be the shared UG, while the different ones are the parameters It is suggested that teachers teach the same and similar sentence patterns before moving to the different ones Based on theory on language acquisition, it is only after students are competent in the same and similar sentence patterns should they be taught the parameters and more complex sentences At the same time, teachers should consider errors Thai students make, strategies they use writing in English, and differences between Thai and English that can cause problems in students’ writing and find some possible techniques to solve them, also urging students to use the UG as a monitoring device for writing better sentences

Universal Grammar: Wittgenstein Versus Chomsky

Abstract: The motivations for the claim that language is innate are, for many, quite straightforward. The innateness of language is seen as the only way to solve the so-called logical problem of language acquisition : the mismatch between linguistic input and linguistic output. In this paper, I begin by unravelling several strands of the nativist argument, offering replies as I go along. I then give an outline of Wittgenstein’s view of language acquisition , showing how it renders otiose problems posed by nativists like Chomsky —not least by means of Wittgenstein’s own brand of grammar which, unlike Chomsky’s, does not reside in the brain, but in our practices .

Machine Learning Models of Universal Grammar Parameter Dependencies

Abstract: The use of parameters in the description of natural language syntax has to balance between the need to discriminate among (sometimes subtly different) languages, which can be seen as a cross-linguistic version of Chomsky’s (1964) descriptive adequacy, and the complexity of the acquisition task that a large number of parameters would imply, which is a problem for explanatory adequacy. Here we present a novel approach in which a machine learning algorithm is used to find dependencies in a table of parameters. The result is a dependency graph in which some of the parameters can be fully predicted from others. These empirical findings can be then subjected to linguistic analysis, which may either refute them by providing typological counter-examples of languages not included in the original dataset, dismiss them on theoretical grounds, or uphold them as tentative empirical laws worth of further study.

The evolution of syntactic structure

Abstract: Two new books—Creating Language: Integrating Evolution, Acquisition, and Processing by Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater, and Why Only Us: Language and Evolution by Robert C. Berwick and Noam Chomsky—present a good opportunity to assess the state of the debate about whether or not language was made possible by language-specific adaptations for syntax. Berwick and Chomsky argue yes: language was made possible by a single change to the computation Merge. Christiansen and Chater argue no: our syntactic abilities developed on the back of natural selection for general-purpose sequence learning mechanisms. While Christiansen and Chater’s book testifies to impressive developments in constructivist approaches to language development, it’s not obvious that it has the resources to explain the hierarchical nature of syntactic binding. Despite this, the views have much in common.

The Acquisition of Syntax: A Nativist Perspective vs. A Cognitivist Perspective

Abstract: This paper looks into how two main frameworks view the acquisition of syntax. These are the nativist approach which claims that language is acquired because human beings are equipped with a language acquisition device in the form of grammatical knowledge, and the cognitivist approach which views language like the other cognitive skills and so claims that we acquire language using general cognitive mechanisms that are not specific to language. The paper reviews a number of studies that report on the acquisition of various aspects of the syntax of natural language; the studies are from both frameworks. The paper then evaluates the claims of the reviewed studies in light of the respective findings, as well as in light of how the findings may be interpreted by the other framework. The paper also presents an analysis of the argumentation techniques that the respective authors use, as well as of how effective they are. It concludes with a proposal for a line of research which is based on research techniques and findings in second language acquisition.

A Comparison between Iranian Efl Teachers and Learners' Perceptions of Language Teaching Objectives

Abstract: 1.IntroductionLanguage teachers are eager to teach the learners, and they expect from learners to get properly what they try to teach, but this goal is not always easy to reach. Different elements can cause mismatches between teachers and learners' conceptions of what has been taught and what has been learned. To avoid these mismatches the goals of language teaching should be clear and teachers should try to prevent any mismatches in different fields of study because any types of mismatches can cause the learning process become inefficient. Accordingly, in the literature on perceptual mismatches, we encounter a lot of warnings (e.g., Horowitz, 1990) that the discrepancies between teachers' and learners' views can have negative effects on instructional outcomes. In his 'macrostrategic framework', Kumaravadivelu (2006) warns teachers, curriculum developers, and policy makers about perceptual mismatches between teachers and learners. In one of the macrostrategies of his framework, he wants teachers and the other people in educational settings to "Minimize perceptual mismatches". However the question is which objectives of language teaching should receive priority? Is it a decision to be taken by the teachers or policy makers alone? According to Nunan (1999), the choices of what and how to teach should be made with reference to learners, to get learners actively involved in the learning process. In an attempt to let learners' voices be heard, this study compares learners' and teachers' perceptions of different objectives of language teaching.2.Review of the related Literature2.1. Objectives of Language TeachingTo be able to understand the goals of language teaching, it is better to take a look at Cook's view about goals and objectives of language teaching. Goals of language teaching and learning can be divided into two main groups: external and internal (Cook, 1983; 2002). External goals relate to the students' use of language outside the classroom, internal goals relate to the students' mental development as individuals. For the purpose of language teaching objectives, Chomsky (1986) set the goals of linguistics as accounting for knowledge of language, not knowledge of languages. Both language teachers and students have seen their goal as getting close to native speakers. To people who treat L2 users as deviating from native speaker norms, the important questions are the cognitive problems of bilingualism, not the cognitive deficits of monolingualism, and why L2 students can't speak like natives, rather than why monolinguals can't speak two languages.2.2. Linguistic CompetenceLinguistic competence is the system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language. Linguistic competence is in contrast to the concept of linguistic performance, the way the language system is used in communication. Chomsky (1965) believed that the generativist tradition competence is the only level of language that is studied, because this level gives insights into the Universal Grammar those generativists see as underlying all human language systems. Chomsky's perspective of language learning basically revolves around the idea that all humans have an internal capacity to acquire language. In other words, it implies that this ability to learn and analyze linguistic information is universal and innate, and Chomsky likened it to a language acquisition device, being a result of human evolution.2.2.Perceptual mismatchesPeacock (1998) claimed that certain learner perceptions may be determined to language learning. Using the term 'Perception' includes beliefs and students' subjective evaluations of their teachers' behaviors. Accordingly, 'perception' is operationalized to mean participants' psychologically held, subjective beliefs on ideal teaching practices, their observations of the frequency of specific teaching practices, and their assessments of those practices. , 'perceptions' refers to students' and teachers' personal, subjective. …

Allomorphs in the Igbo Language: An Optimality Theory Approach

Abstract: Allomorphs are any two or more morphemes that have different forms but perform the same grammatical functions in different linguistic environments. The optimality theory claims that the Universal Grammar is a set of violable constraints and that language-specific grammars rank these constraints in languagespecific ways. The linguistic phenomenon has not been approached in the Igbo language from the optimality point of view. This research work therefore, attempts to analyze how this morphological terminology is applicable to the Igbo language. Optimality theory of Prince and Smolensky (1993) was the adopted theoretical framework and data for the study were collected through generation of words from the researcher’s intuitive knowledge of the language. The findings were that using the GEN and EVAL of the input and output of optimality theory that there are many allomorphs in the language due to variant realization of infinitives, gerunds, past tense markers, particles, noun agents, noun instruments, among others. The allomorphs were necessitated due to the fact that the language under study is a rule governed language strictly under the command of vowel harmony.

Pedagogical grammar as the framework of research in teaching foreign languages part 2. native language acquisition: general background

Abstract: The paper deals with the problems of the native language acquisition, focusing on the notions of ‘cognitive organizer’, ‘language acquisition device’ and ‘language universals’, as well as their role in language acquisition. The analysis allowed concluding that the ‘cognitive organizer’ concept partially coincides with the notion of ‘language acquisition device’. The author argues in favour of the term ‘cognitive organizer’, as it is not limited to language acquisition only, but embraces the individual’s intellectual development in general. Chomsky’s arguments concerning the language acquisition device operation are reviewed, as well as the problems related to the language acquisition device model interpretation. The article analyses two versions of the Language Universals theory: formal and substantive universals within Chomsky’s model and the three-level system of universals in Greenberg’s approach. The author finds them to be predominantly non-contradictory, but rather complementary. The notion of innate universals is analysed based on the ‘marked vs unmarked rules’ opposition. The two models of the Innate Universal Grammar Theory (maturationism and constructivism) are reviewed. Arguments in favour of each of them are analysed.Basing on the analysis, the author concludes that some data could be interpreted as the ones supporting the maturational model. On the other hand, it is difficult to reject the idea of restructuring, which virtually penetrates the entire native language acquisition process, provided the restructuring is seen as a permanent reorganization of the child’s grammar mechanisms. The author arguesin favour of the further research directed at the establishment of the degree of similarity between the native language acquisition, on the one hand, and the foreign language acquisition – on the other. The data obtained in such research should be taken into account in the process of Pedagogical Grammar development.

Comparative study of word-order patterns of simple sentences in English and Arabic

Abstract: It is sociolinguistically acknowledged that humans are uniquely distinct from other living species due to the fact that they communicate with one another through the use of a particular human language. Furthermore, the number of human languages that exist worldwide is huge. Unsurprisingly, languages can be similar or different form one another as well as the main aims of each language. Standard Arabic and Standard English languages, for instance, are distinct from one another but at the same time they are alike. Explicitly, the two languages are originally different from one another (one Semitic while the other German) but they do share at least some general linguistic features at all levels: phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatics’ level. In this research paper, fields which are closely connected to the linguistic analysis and comparison of languages known as Contrastive Analysis, Comparative Linguistics and Universal Grammar will be referred to in comparing between Standard Arabic and Standard English in terms of their word-order patterns of simple sentences.

Aquisição de segunda língua e bilinguismo

Abstract: The term Second Language Acquisition (L2A) is misunderstood in the Brazilian context. It is widely used to refer to the process of L2 development, within the Generativist tradition. In this paper, I will address the area of second language acquisition, from a generative perspective, expanding on the concept and the fruitful area of research and investigation. Among the common issues debated in L2A is the question of whether innate Universal Grammar (UG) mechanisms guide L2 acquisition in ways that are similar to L1 acquisition. An equally relevant discussion, namely that of early L2 acquisition in the Brazilian context of Bilingual Education will also be addressed.