LING 200 Study Guide - Final Guide: Degenerate Bilinear Form, Universal Grammar, Innateness Hypothesis
16 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
The paradox of language acquisition: hundreds of adults with advanced degrees have spent the last half-century developing the eld of generative linguistics and have yet to work out a decisive grammar for a single language. Every normal toddler acquires the grammar of (at least) one language effortlessly and in just a few short years. Tacit linguistic knowledge: knowledge that is inherent and has not been taught. Data children receive is noisy and incomplete. Children achieve adult like grammar despite this phenomenon. Innateness hypothesis: certain aspects of human language are innate. Linguistic ability is independent of general intelligence. Structured input: many adults talk to children in a special way. Principle: humans have an innate capacity for language. Principles are shared by all languages, because they are hardwired into the brain in the form of universal grammar (chomsky) Parameters: are like switches that be turned on or off, they are ways in which language can vary.
