inter-innateness interaction

[Anat Ninio]

Dear Joko,

If I may paraphrase your message, you found a strong match between the 
proportion of transitive and intransitive verbs in children's speech and 
the proportions of the same in child-directed speech.  As Susana Lopez 
Ornat suggested, such a finding is best interpreted as reflecting  
learning processes, not innate properties of language.  Certainly the 
speech of children between 2 and 5 years of age cannot be easily taken 
as reflecting prelinguistic features, as they already speak at this 
point for several years.  Why not consider that children actually learn 
to speak from the speech of others in their linguistic environment? Your 
own results join many others that show strong environmental influences 
on the global characteristics of children's speech, and as such, are a 
welcome addition to the empiricist literature.

Anat Ninio


Susana Lopez Ornat wrote:
> Joko: maybe you should consider this: if, and only if, the empirical 
> evidence you have really, thoroughly, uncontrovertedly, supported 
> those results** you mention, then you would have strong evidence 
> against the non-innateness of the language learning system.
> You might want to give a thought to this.
>
> Susana López Ornat
> Dpto Psicología Básica II
> Facultad de Psicología
> Universidad Complutense de Madrid
> Madrid 28223
> www.ucm.es/info/equial
>
> **: I refer to this paragraph: "It seems to me that the same 
> proportion of the 1st verb type and the 2nd verb type in the 
> children's production and in CDS  provide an insight how language 
> acquisition is possible"
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joko-Kusmanto" <joko.k at telkom.net>
> To: <info-childes at mail.talkbank.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 8:52 AM
> Subject: inter-innateness interaction
>
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Would anybody here please help me provide some explanations relating 
>> to my problem as follow.
>>  Currently I'm looking at the argument structure in children's 
>> language from 2 - 5 years old. When I compare the verb types found in 
>> children's production and in children directed speech (CDS), I found 
>> that they have the same proportion. I classify two basic verb types, 
>> i.e. (i) verb with Agent-like as Subject and (ii) verb with no 
>> Agent-like as Subject. The first verb type assigns directly, thus 
>> govern the theta role, the Object as Patient-like and the second verb 
>> type does not assigns, thus doesn't govern the theta role, the 
>> Object. It seems to me that the same proportion of the 1st verb type 
>> and the 2nd verb type in the children's production and in CDS provide 
>> an insight how language acquisition is possible. This proportion 
>> brings me to a conclusion that the proportion of the 1st and the 2nd 
>> verb type in children's production and in CDS is the picture of the 
>> innate properties by which language acquisition is possible. The 
>> children's production is a picture of pre-linguistic innate 
>> properties (not yet in form of lingual realization) and the CDS is a 
>> picture of linguistic innate properties (already in lingual 
>> realization). Thus, language acquisition is possible in the 
>> interaction between the mechanism of the pre-linguistic innate 
>> properties and the linguistic innate properties as triggering 
>> environment. I would say that this is an inter-innateness interaction 
>> in language acquisition. I assume here that CDS is constrained by the 
>> linguistic-innate properties which bring on a regular linguistic 
>> environment and that the poverty of stimulus does not really mean 
>> that the linguistic environment is random. Would it be possible to be 
>> like that?
>>
>> Thank you all for your explanations.
>>
>> Joko Kusmanto
>> Postgraduate Student of Linguistics
>> Universitas Sebelas Maret - Surakarta
>> Indonesia
>>
>>
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>>
>>
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