Who's doing developmental pragmatics?

[P.Hendriks]

Dear Gerlind and info-childes,

I would also be interested in a mailing list on developmental 
pragmatics. At the University of Groningen, we recently initiated a 
project on developmental semantics and pragmatics, studying 
asymmetries between children's production and their comprehension of 
several aspects of semantics/pragmatics. We also intend to look at 
children and adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. More 
information about our project is available on our project website 
(http://www.let.rug.nl/~hendriks/vici.htm).

Also, adding to the discussion on Chomsky and generative grammar, I 
agree with William Gregory Sakas that we should distinguish between 
Chomsky's 'big picture' of linguistics as a natural science and 
Chomsky's particular ideas about syntax. Currently, several 
alternatives are being developed to Chomsky's particular view on 
syntax which still adhere to Chomsky's big picture, for example 
Optimality-Theoretic models of language acquisition. These models 
depart from Chomsky's particular view of autonomous syntax (by also 
taking into account meaning and context), while still being formal and 
generative and yielding testable predictions with respect to language 
acquisition.

Best wishes,
--Petra Hendriks