storage and computation

[Tony A. Wright]

John Myhill wrote:

> I've been quite interested to read here about specific findings regarding how
> people learn language. As I have been observing the linguistic development
> of my now 6-year-old daughter, I have been coming to the conclusion that
> anyone who thinks that children develop their language by relying more on
> rule generalization than on retrival either doesn't have children or
> doesn't pay any attention to what they say.

I have spent plenty of time with children who convince me that they rely
a great deal on both rule generalization AND retrieval.

Children notoriously regularize high-occurrence irregular verbs, i.e., "goed"
for "went".  Why would they do this if they were primarily retrieving?
Why do children exhibit developmental patterns in syntax that are nothing like
adult speech?  Are their incipient retrieval capacities too limited and
increase with age?

--Tony Wright <twright at intersatx.net>