what is acquire

7/25/2019 What is Acquire

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What is acquire?


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What is language?

It is a system of signs and rules thatenables people to communicate.

LANGUAGE AND !"UG!

Linguistic #ord meanings are distinctfrom thoughts or concepts related tothese meaning.


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Language andcommunication

Use and $no#ledge of a language are alsonot e%ui&alent to $no#ledge of means ofsocial communication.

Distinct from other animals communicationsystems' human language critically re&eals(duality of )atterning*.

hrough Duality of )atterning' permutationof units' #hich are themsel&esmeaningless' lin$ to the distinct meaningsat another le&el of representation.


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What is grammar?

he system of rules and theprinciples in the mind+brain #hichgenerate a language.

It is the cogniti&e system that mapsfrom form to meaning.


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!o# is it related to themind?

he human mind has a generati&e system'a combinatorial system of computation' (asystem that ma$es in,niti&e use of ,nite

means*.A language is a particular #ay of

e-pressing thought and understanding alanguage is a particular generati&eprocedure that assigns to e&ery possiblee-pression a representation of its formand its meaning.


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E-plain I/Language &ersus E/

Language

I/Language is the mental system #hichcreates the language in the mind of anindi&idual. It is concerned #ith #hat a

spea$er $no#s about a language and#here this language $no#ledge comesfrom. It is our mental linguistic $no#ledge.

E/Language is the e-ternal re0ection of

language' is a set of e-pressions. It aimsto collect samples of language and then todescribe their properties.


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E-plain the di1erent aspect of thecomputational system of the language

2rom the ,nite to the in,nite.

he essence of language $no#ledgeconsists of the representation of a,nite set of discrete units at se&eralle&els' their combination andse%uencing at each le&el. Each le&el

in&ol&es a di1erent #ay ofrepresenting an utterance.


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A digital system

3ounds are combine to form #ords'#ords are combine to formsentences.


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A combinational system

E&en a small set of sounds can leadto a large set of #ords' and e&en asmall set of #ords can lead to a large

set of sentences. his is becauselanguage uses a (4ombinatorialprinciple* to build a (Large and open

&ocabulary out of a small number ofelements*.


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he po#er of se%uencing

Natural language build on the po#erof se%uencing. All natural languagesre&eal a basic (#ord order* or

constituent order' although the orderchosen &aries across languages.


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he recursi&e property

his combinatorial system is recursi&e'applying to its o#n output o&er and o&eragain.

According to Dr. 3euss' units can becreated of a smaller units and these canbe recombined by the embedding o1 oneunit in another' 3ubordinating one to

another' or coordinating one #ith another'or coordinating and embedding as in thecomplete e-ample.


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4onstituent structure

he combinatorial system in&ol&ed inlanguage $no#ledge does not simplyoperate on a linear string li$e a

se%uence of arbitrary numbers. Innatural language' e&ery unit re0ectsa combination of smaller units. E&ery

linear se%uence can and must bedescribed in terms of its (constituentstructure*' #hich linguists identify

through the sue of brac$ets.


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he secret s$eleton

he secret 3$elton underlies e&erysentence #e hear or spea$.4onstituents must be organi5ed

hierarchically #ithin each sentence.


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Disco&ery of synta-

hrough study of synta-' linguists ha&eno# disco&ered speci,c properties ofthe human language faculty' i.e.' of

the computational system for humanlanguage.


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Displacement

In natural language' se%uences ofunits can be permuted or displaced."rder &ariation is producti&ely

possible.


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he missing element

Natural language producti&ely hidesits units. It in&ol&es numerousde&ices for reducing redundancy.

6any sentence constituents are null.hey are part of our $no#ledge' e&enthough they are not reali5ed

physically in the se%uence of sounds#hich #e hear.


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)ronouns

)ronouns pro&ides another #ay fornatural language to reduceredundancy.

7edundancy o1ers protection againstdamage' and might facilitateo&ercoming problems that are

computational in nature.)ronouns do not specify their

reference and allo# shifting

reference.


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8no#ing the impossible

he in,nitely producti&e specialcombinatorial system #hichunderlies our language $no#ledge is

in,nitely constrained.

Although in,nite in capacity'combination and+or displacement in

language is not al#ays grammaticaland thus not al#ays possible.


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2inding the meaning

he formal computational system oflanguage $no#ledge must be integrated#ith other parts of human competence so

that #e' and children' can say #hat #emean and mean #hat #e say.

In part' the synta- of a sentencedetermines its meaning' as #e can see

simply by noting the di1erence bet#een(I eat #hat I see* and (I see #hat I eat*'&arying only #ord order.


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4losing on the mystery

We can no# being to see fundamentalproperties of the hidden system #hiche-ists #hen #e $no# a language' and

#hich children must ac%uire.4hildren #ho ac%uire language must

ac%uire computation #hich allo#sproducti&e se%uencing and structuringof units and unit combinations accordingto a principled and constrained system.


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3ummari5ing the basic properties ofthe hidden system

Natural language $no#ledge in&ol&es a system #hich is +has

a. 3ymbolic

b. 4ombinatorial and in,nitely generati&e

c. 9ased on units #hich are combined and se%uenced' possibly in&ariable order.

d. 3tructured hierarchically

e. 7ecursi&e

f. 4onstrained

g. 3peci,c formal linguistic properties' i.e.' speci,c design featuresof human language' both allo#ing and constraining precise

computation o&er missing and mo&ed elements.

h. Instantiated in a human conte-t of thought and interpersonale-change

.In short' the system is representational and computational.


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Designing the architecture of the

language faculty

he basic design

his o&erall architecture is necessaryto generate sentences and percei&eand articulate the sounds oflanguage in a #ay #hich hasmeaning' and to use that $no#ledge

to proclaim.' e-claim' argue or beg'to interact in the #orld socially orother#ise.


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he interfaces

his language faculty coordinated : or : interfaces #ith otherforms of cognition.

3ounds and meaning of language are both points of cogniti&einterfaces' acting as modes of interpretation by performancesystems.

Although they are gi&en their (instructions* by the grammar'these interfaces are (e-ternal to the computational system oflanguage*

he auditory interface; A formali5ation of the interfacebet#een the computational systems and sensorimotor

systems in&ol&ed in audition and articulation.

he conceptual interface; A formali5ation of the interfacebet#een the computational system and systems of conceptualstructure and language use.


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Le&els of representation

he auditory and conceptualinterfaces must be formali5ed sothey can enter into the computation

re%uired by $no#ledge of alanguage.


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7elation of child languageac%uisition to linguistic theory

E&ery normal child in normalcircumstances #ill sol&e the problem#hich all linguists are pursuing'

ac%uiring the true formalcomputational system for any and allpossible languages.

We can only assume that childrenmust $no# the (right* #ay to capturea language.


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Does the language faculty de&elop?


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4onclusions

he architecture language faculty must allo#children to accomplish this comple-computation naturally #ithout conscious e1ort.

9ecause #e apply a combinatorial system #ithits special design features' #e are able toac%uire language.

9ecause #e integrate this linguistic $no#ledge

#ith our cogniti&e $no#ledge andunderstanding' #e are able to use or$no#ledge of language.

what is acquire

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