Fall, 2013 Colloquium 1
Speaker: Charles Yang
Dept. of Linguistics & Computer Science
Institute for Research in Cognitive Science
University of Pennsylvania
Time: Oct. 2, 12:30-2:00 pm
Place: CHSS Building, B305
Title: The Acquisition of Variation and Universal Grammar
Abstract:
The variable and quantitative aspects of child language have often been claimed to be inconsistent with the theory of Universal Grammar (UG). This is an inaccurate interpretation of the theoretical and empirical work in the UG tradition (Chomsky 1965, Wexler & Culicover 1980, Berwick 1985, Pinker 1999, Yang 2002). In this talk, we review evidence that the variability in child language is not only compatible with UG but can be fruitfully incorporated into a UG-based quantitative approach to acquisition, and that input effects can play an important role in differentiating competing accounts of the learner's grammar system. As a case study, we compare the acquisition of tense in Mainstream American English and African American English. By comparing the quantitative development of tense in child language and the statistical distribution of inflectional forms in mother's speech, we show that tense is acquired as an abstract and overarching property of the grammar, rather than the piecemeal accumulation of usage patterns as claimed in constructivist accounts.
(The study of tense acquisition is joint work with Julie Legate and Allison Ellman.)
Dept. of Linguistics & Computer Science
Institute for Research in Cognitive Science
University of Pennsylvania
Time: Oct. 2, 12:30-2:00 pm
Place: CHSS Building, B305
Title: The Acquisition of Variation and Universal Grammar
Abstract:
The variable and quantitative aspects of child language have often been claimed to be inconsistent with the theory of Universal Grammar (UG). This is an inaccurate interpretation of the theoretical and empirical work in the UG tradition (Chomsky 1965, Wexler & Culicover 1980, Berwick 1985, Pinker 1999, Yang 2002). In this talk, we review evidence that the variability in child language is not only compatible with UG but can be fruitfully incorporated into a UG-based quantitative approach to acquisition, and that input effects can play an important role in differentiating competing accounts of the learner's grammar system. As a case study, we compare the acquisition of tense in Mainstream American English and African American English. By comparing the quantitative development of tense in child language and the statistical distribution of inflectional forms in mother's speech, we show that tense is acquired as an abstract and overarching property of the grammar, rather than the piecemeal accumulation of usage patterns as claimed in constructivist accounts.
(The study of tense acquisition is joint work with Julie Legate and Allison Ellman.)