Generative approaches to language learning
-
Sonja Eisenbeiß
Abstract
All proponents of generative approaches to language learning argue that the syntactic knowledge which language learners acquire is underdetermined by the input. Therefore, they assume an innate language acquisition device which constrains the hypothesis space of children when they acquire their native language. However, it is still a matter of debate how general or domain-specific this acquisition mechanism is and whether it is fully available from the onset of language acquisition. This article provides an overview of the different answers that have been provided for these questions within generative linguistics. Moreover, it shows how the generative concept of “learning” has been applied to the acquisition of syntax, morphology, phonology and vocabulary, language processing, L2-acquisition, nontypical language development, creoles and language change. Finally, current developments, merits and problems of the generative approach to learning are discussed. The focus of this discussion will be on efforts to reduce assumptions about domain-specific innate predispositions for language learning.
© 2009 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Introduction: concepts of development, learning, and acquisition
- Implicit and explicit modes of learning: similarities and differences from a developmental perspective
- Generative approaches to language learning
- Language acquisition in optimality theory
- Bootstrapping mechanisms in first language acquisition
- Usage-based and emergentist approaches to language acquisition
- Connectionist approaches to language learning
- Learning your language, outside-in and inside-out
- Language learning from the perspective of nonlinear dynamic systems
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Introduction: concepts of development, learning, and acquisition
- Implicit and explicit modes of learning: similarities and differences from a developmental perspective
- Generative approaches to language learning
- Language acquisition in optimality theory
- Bootstrapping mechanisms in first language acquisition
- Usage-based and emergentist approaches to language acquisition
- Connectionist approaches to language learning
- Learning your language, outside-in and inside-out
- Language learning from the perspective of nonlinear dynamic systems
