Knowledge and Learning in Natural Language

By Charles D. Yang

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199254141
• ISBN13: 9780199254149
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"