last night April and I went out to eat with Terry and Andee, and we played the MOST AWESOME GAME EVER: where I tried to name as many countries as I could (off the top of my head
( Read more... )
Here's a quote from the book Language Instinct that I think you'd might enjoy Ashby. The author, Steven Pinker, points out how a child's grammatical "error" actually and naturally follows a strict and correct grammatical path before learning all of the odd irregular verbs, etc.; and he says that "Often the errors follow the logic of grammar so beautifully that the puzzle is not why the children make the errors, but why they sound like errors to adult ears at all."
I believe it's Noam Chomsky who says somewhere that any peoplegroup that speaks a pidgin dialect only does so for a single generation, because within a single generation a fully-developed grammar will arise by necessity- and because grammar is hardwired into the human brain.
yes but- generally when a child makes a grammatical mistake, you can easily follow their line of reasoning to see how they got there. for example if they say they falled down. we understand that they are adding 'ed' to the end of a verb to make it past tense. that is how we make verbs into the past tense.
Not to be an übernerd, but I think it was Derek Bickerton who studied the pidgin language birthed in the sugar plantations of Hawaii. Yet, I'm sure he has quoted Chomsky along the way.
Shakespherian; is it Tim? I think you'd love Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct (if you haven't read it already). I marvel at the way Pinker weaves a funny story into the plethora of linguistical and philosophical research seemingly at the tip of his tongue. He takes Chomsky's UG to a new level.
Here's a quote from the book Language Instinct that I think you'd might enjoy Ashby. The author, Steven Pinker, points out how a child's grammatical "error" actually and naturally follows a strict and correct grammatical path before learning all of the odd irregular verbs, etc.; and he says that "Often the errors follow the logic of grammar so beautifully that the puzzle is not why the children make the errors, but why they sound like errors to adult ears at all."
Ahhhhh! That feels better to share. ;-)
--Linger (aka Lindgrammar)
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
the end.
Reply
Reply
Shakespherian; is it Tim? I think you'd love Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct (if you haven't read it already). I marvel at the way Pinker weaves a funny story into the plethora of linguistical and philosophical research seemingly at the tip of his tongue. He takes Chomsky's UG to a new level.
Lindgrammar
Reply
Leave a comment