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Hi Christina, <br>
<br>
An interesting discussion is found in the following book: <br>
<br>
<span class="source">CHILD LANGUAGE: ACQUISITION AND GROWTH</span>.
Barbara Lust. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.<br>
<br>
best regards, <br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">
--
Cristina D. Dye, Ph.D.
Department of Neuroscience
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057
tel.(202)-687-5661
fax (202)-687-6914
</pre>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:41e87b220907160612w554f0e2asa1803e49e9ba3771@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 6:58 AM, Christina
Behme <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:christina.behme@dal.ca">christina.behme@dal.ca</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
Good day,<br>
<br>
as part of my dissertation I deal with the question if empiricist or
rationalist<br>
theories of language acquisition are more plausible. In the literature I<br>
consulted I found little agreement about what a 'rationalist' (also<br>
?nativist?) or 'empiricist' is. Further, it was claimed that language<br>
acquisition researchers do not always agree on whether a particular
statement<br>
is ?rationalist? or ?empiricist?. I was wondering if you could be so<br>
kind and take a moment of your time to help me finding out whether or
not<br>
researchers who currently work in the field of language acquisition do
indeed<br>
disagree on this issue. I have selected a few quotes and ask you if you
could<br>
for each decide if it's from a rationalist or from an empiricist. This
is not a<br>
'test', I merely want to find out if there is indeed wide ranging
disagreement.<br>
Thus, any answer you give is a correct answer (this also includes:
'neither' or<br>
'I can't decide' or....). Second, could you please also indicate for
each quote<br>
if you agree or disagree with it 'in principle'. If you disagree, can
you<br>
please briefly state why you disagree.<br>
<br>
If you want to respond please do not post your answer to the list but
send it<br>
directly to me: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:christina.behme@dal.ca">christina.behme@dal.ca</a>. You
can also contact me at this address<br>
if you<br>
have any questions.<br>
<br>
Thank you very much for your help<br>
Christina Behme.<br>
<br>
Here are the quotes:<br>
<br>
1. "...knowledge which can be acquired without any process of
reasoning, such<br>
as languages... and in general any subject which rests on experience
alone"<br>
<br>
2. "... when we learn a language, we connect the letters or the
pronunciation<br>
of certain words, which are material things, with their meaning, which
are<br>
thoughts, so that when we later hear the same words, we conceive the
same<br>
things, and when we conceive the same things, we remember the same
words"<br>
<br>
3. "Among different languages, even where we suspect the least
connexion or<br>
communication, it is found, that the words, expressive of ideas, the
most<br>
compounded, do yet nearly correspond to each other: a certain proof
that the<br>
simple ideas, comprehended in the compound ones were bound together by
some<br>
universal principle, which had an equal influence on all mankind"<br>
<br>
4. "[t]here are only two things to learn in any language: the meaning
of words<br>
and grammar"<br>
<br>
5. "...besides the vast number of different figures that do really
exist, in<br>
the coherent masses of matter, the stock that the mind has in its
power, by<br>
varying the idea of space, and thereby making still new compositions, by<br>
repeating its own ideas, and joining them as it pleases, is perfectly<br>
inexhaustible. And so it can multiply figures in infinitum."<br>
<br>
6. "When for example on hearing that the word ?K-I-N-G? signifies
supreme<br>
power, I commit this to my memory and then subsequently recall the
meaning by<br>
means of my memory, it must be intellectual memory that makes this
possible For<br>
there is no relationship between the four letters (K-I-N-G), which
would enable<br>
me to derive the meaning from the letters. It is intellectual memory
that<br>
enables me to recall what the letters stand for"<br>
<br>
7. "... knowledge of things is not to be derived from [language]. No;
they<br>
mustbe studied and investigated in themselves"<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Tom Roeper<br>
Dept of Lingiustics<br>
UMass South College<br>
Amherst, Mass. 01003 ISA<br>
413 256 0390<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
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