Language Learning : A Special Case for Developmental Psychology?

Cover -- Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Original Title Page -- Original Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. The Case for Innate Knowledge -- First steps to innate knowledge -- The knowledge behind sentence production -- The constraints on grammatical rules -- The introduction of innate knowledge -- Potential assistance from other speakers -- The significance ofmotherese -- The relevance of conversational replies -- The role of misunderstanding -- Further options for the acquisition process -- The power of the linguistic environment -- The possibility of an alternative process -- A strategy for further research -- 2. The Contextual Completion of Meaning -- Imperative sentences and the directing of behaviour -- The functions of imperative sentences -- The sensitivity to behaviour direction -- The awareness of entity roles -- Interrogative sentences and the asking of questions -- The subcategorisation of interrogativesentences -- The deployment of indirect speech acts -- The implication of literal meaning -- Declarative sentences and the providing ofinformation -- The differentiation of information providing -- The exclusion of performative clauses -- Some conclusions on specific content -- The nature of contextually completed meaning -- 3. The Time-scale to Observational Adequacy -- Assimilation to extralinguistic structures -- The emergence of the assimilation approach -- An appraisal of the initial model -- The implications of sentence assimilation -- Accommodation to sentential properties -- The formulation of LAS -- The emergence of ALAS -- The relevance of accommodation -- Three stages in grammar learning -- The formation of input mappings -- The integration of meaning elements -- The fusion of lexical items -- The convergence on observational adequacy -- 4. The Approximation to Psychological Reality.

A theoretical account of the basic steps -- The nature of telegraphic mappings -- The creation of composite mappings -- The metamorphosis into adult grammar -- A communicative system of growing power -- The multiplication of meaning elements -- The lexicalisation of communicative expressions -- The sequencing of lexical items -- A rule-bound system in flux -- The switch to a rule-bound system -- The emergence of grammatical categories -- The introduction of context specificity -- 5. The Establishment of an Alternative Theory -- Prolegomena to a cross-linguistic analysis -- The universality of contextually completed meaning -- The variable sequencing of lexical items -- A possible explanation of grammatical structure -- Implications for developmental psychology -- The processing of input mappings -- The integration and production procedures -- Linguistic autonomy and general learning -- References -- Author Index -- Subject Index.

First published in 1993, the starting place for this book is the notion, that children could not learn their native language without substantial innate knowledge of its grammatical structure. It is argued that the notion is as problematic for contemporary theories of development as it was for theories of the past.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.