Language Acquisition: Knowledge Representation and Processing

272 Pages·2003·16.36 MB·English

by  A. Sorace

Language Acquisition:
Knowledge Representation and Processing
Related journals
English for Specific Purposes
Editors: T. Dudley-Evans, L. Hamp-Lyons, P. Master
Journal of Pragmatics
Editor: J.L. Mey
Language & Communication
Editors: Roy Harris and Talbot Taylor
Language Sciences
Editor: Nigel Love
Lingua
Editors: John Anderson and Neil Smith
Neuropsychologia
Editor: S.D. Iversen
Speech Communication
Editor-in-Chief: C. Sorin
System
Editor: Norman Davies
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Editor: Peter Collins
Free specimen copies of journals available on request
Related Rook Series
Language & Communication Library
Series editor: Roy Harris
Current Research in the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface
Series editors: K.M. Jaszczolt and R. Turner
Advances in Psychology
Series editor: G.E. Stelmach
For more information on all titles in linguistics and related fields,
go to the Elsevier Science website at:
http://www.elsevier.nl or
http://www.elsevier.com
Language
Acquisition:
knowledge
Representation and
Processing
Antonella Sorace
Caroline Hey cock
Richard Shillcock
Editors
University of Edinburgh
1999 North-Holland
Amsterdam - Lausanne - New York - Oxford - Shannon - Singapore - Tokyo
ELSEVIER SCIENCE Ltd
The Boulevard, Langford Lane
Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK
© 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
This work and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Science Ltd, and the following terms and
conditions apply to its use:
Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Science Rights & Permissions Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 IDX, UK; phone: (+44)
1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: [email protected]. You may also contact Rights & Permissions directly through
Elsevier's home page (http://www.elsevier.nl), selecting first 'Customer Support', then 'General Information', then 'Permissions Query Form'.
In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA
01923, USA; phone: [phone], fax: [phone], and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service
(CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIPOLP, UK; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]. Other countries may have a
local reprographic rights agency for payments.
Derivative Works
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the publisher is required for resale or
distribution of such material outside the institution.
Permission of the publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations.
Electronic Storage or Usage
Permission of the publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this work, including any chapter or part of a chapter.
Contact the publisher at the address indicated.
Except as outlined above, no part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.
Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Science Rights & Permissions Department, at the mail, fax and e-mail addresses noted above.
Notice
No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or
otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances
in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made.
First edition 1999
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record from the British Library has been applied for.
Library of Congress Catalog1ng-1n-Pub11cat1on Data
Language acquisition : knowledge representation and processing /
edited by Antonella Sorace. Caroline Heycock, Richard Shlllcock.
p. cm.
Papers presented at a conference held Edinburgh, 1997.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-08-043370-7 hc
1. Language acquisition—Congresses. I. Sorace, Antonella.
II. Heycock. Caroline B., 1960- . III. Shlllcock, Richard.
P118.L2539 1999
40V.93--dc21 98-51947
CIP
ISBN: 0-08 043370-7
©The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
Printed in The Netherlands.
For
Teun Hoekstra
(1953-1998)
in memory
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
A. Sorace, C. Heycock, R. Shillcock, Introduction: Trends and
convergences in language acquisition research 1
K. Wexler, Very early parameter setting and the unique checking
constraint: A new explanation of the optional infinitive stage 23
T. Hoekstra, N. Hyams, Aspects of root infinitives 81
A. Radford, Genitive subjects in child English 113
B.D. Schwartz, The second language instinct 133
B.B. Tesar, P. Smolensky, Learning Optimality-Theoretic grammars 161
P.W. Jusczyk, Constraining the search for structure in the input 197
S. Pinker, Words and rules 219
Author index 243
Subject index 253
This page intentionally left blank
Lingua
ELSEVIER Lingua 106(1998) 1-21
Introduction:
Trends and convergences in
language acquisition research*
Antonella Soracea'*, Caroline Heycockb, Richard Shillcockc
" Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, 14 Buccleuch Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9LN UK
h Department of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, Adam Ferguson Building, George Sqaure,
Edinburgh EH8 9LL UK
'' School of Cognitive Science, Division of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 2 Buccleuch Place,
Edinburgh EH8 9LW UK
Language acquisition has a special place in cognitive science, and has become a
fertile ground for interdisciplinary research: this volume presents some current cut-
ting-edge research which illustrates this fruitful convergence of endeavours. The
contributions to the volume originated as invited talks presented at the Gala '97 Con-
ference entitled 'Language Acquisition: Knowledge Representation and Processing',
held in Edinburgh in April 1997.' The aim of the conference was to promote cross-
fertilisation across the different disciplines involved in research into language acqui-
sition, and the collection presented here reflects this aim very directly.
1. Background
The last decade has witnessed a significant shift in the cognitive paradigm applied
to language acquisition. Until perhaps forty years ago, the study of language acqui-
sition was largely restricted to the observation of individual case studies of child
development (first language or LI acquisition), and to the improvement of teaching
methods for foreign languages (second language or L2 acquisition). Theoretical ori-
* We would like to thank the authors contributing to this volume for the dedication and thoroughness
that they demonstrated in the preparation, revision, and submission of their manuscripts. We are also
grateful to the reviewers, whose insightful critiques and suggestions - often produced under severe time
pressure - were invaluable.
* Corresponding author. Phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; e-mail:
[email protected]
1 The proceedings of the conference, containing all other talks and poster presentations, have been pub-
lished as A. Sorace, C. Heycock and R. Shillcock (eds.), 1997. Proceedings of the Gala '97 Conference
on Language Acquisition. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.
0024-3841/997$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
PII: S0024-3841(98)00028-X