Knowledge and Learning in Natural Language

Zusatztext Yang's carefully crafted and impressively argued study is a significant contribution to the exciting field of language acquisition, and cognitive growth more generally. He has shown how conceptions of 'universal grammar' can be integrated with precise ideas about learning/growth mechanisms within a variational model of language acquisition that yields sharp and well-confirmed predictions over quite an interesting range, with implications for language change as well. It is a substantial achievement, sure to become the basis for much fruitful inquiry and research. Informationen zum Autor Charles Yang has been teaching computational linguistics and language acquisition at Yale since receiving his Ph.D. in computer science at MIT. Klappentext It is a simple observation that children make mistakes when they learn a language. Yet, to the trained eye, these mistakes are far from random; in fact, they closely resemble perfectly grammatical utterances by adults--who speak other languages. This type of error analysis suggests a novel view of language learning: children are born with a fixed set of hypotheses about language--Chomsky's Universal Grammar--and these hypotheses compete to match the child's ambient language in a Darwinian fashion. The book presents evidence for this perspective from the study of children's words and grammar, and how language changes over time. Zusammenfassung This work aims to be a synthesis of mathematical learning theory! natural selection and Universal Grammar in a form that is both readable and convincing. In the process it also illuminates many phenomena in child language that can be perplexing under alternative accounts. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1: The Study of Language and Language Acquisition 2: A Variational Model of Language Acquisition 3: Rules Over Words 4: Grammar Competition in Children's Syntax 5: The Dynamics of Language Change 6: Summary Bibliography ...

Product details

• Authors: William E. Engel, Charles D Yang, Charles D. Yang, Charles D. ( Yang, Charles D. (Department of Linguistics Yang, Charles D. Engel Yang, Charles Engel Yang, Yang Charles D.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 02.01.2003
• EAN: 9780199254149
• ISBN: 978-0-19-925414-9
• No. of pages: 188
• Series: Oxford Linguistics; Oxford Linguistics
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology; PSYCHOLOGY / Developmental / Child, PSYCHOLOGY / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition, Child & developmental psychology, Cognition & cognitive psychology, Child, developmental and lifespan psychology, Cognition and cognitive psychology, Language acquisition, Cognitivism, cognitive theory