Abstract
Arguments from the ‘Logical Problem of Language Acquisition’ suggest that since linguistic experience provides few negative data that would falsify overgeneral grammatical hypotheses, innate knowledge of the principles of Universal Grammar must constrain learners’ hypothesis formulation. Although this argument indicates a need for domain-specific constraints, it does not support their innateness. Learning from mostly positive data proceeds unproblematically in virtually all domains. Since not every domain can plausibly be accorded its own special faculty, the probative value of the argument in the linguistic case is dubious. In ignoring the holistic and probablistic nature of theory construction, the argument underestimates the extent to which positive data can supply negative evidence and hence overestimates the intractability of language learning in the absence of a dedicated faculty. While nativism about language remains compelling, the alleged ‘Logical Problem’ contributes nothing to its plausibility and the emphasis on the Problem in the recent acquisition literature has been a mistake.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
REFERENCES
Antony, L.: 1991, ‘Rabbit Pots and Supernovas’, unpublished manuscript.
Braine, M. D. S.: 1971, ‘On Two Types of Models of the Internalisation of Grammars’, in D. I. Slobin (ed.), The Ontogenesis of Grammar: A Theoretical Symposium, Academic Press, New York.
Brown, R., C. Cazden, and U. Bellugi: 1969, ‘The Child’s Grammar from I to III’, in J. Hill (ed.), Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, Vol. II, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Brown, R. and C. Hanlon: 1970, ‘Derivational Complexity and Order of Acquisition in Child Speech’, in J. R. Hayes (ed.), Cognition and the Development of Language, John Wiley, New York.
Chomsky, N.: 1959, ‘Review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior’, Language 35, 26–58.
Chomsky, N.: 1975, Reflections on Language, Fontana, London.
Chomsky, N.: 1981, Lectures on Government and Binding, Foris, Dordrecht.
Chomsky, N.: 1988, Language and Problems of Knowledge, The Managua Lectures, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Chomsky, N.: 1990, ‘On the Nature, Use and Acquisition of Language’, in W. G. Lycan (ed.), Mind and Cognition: A Reader, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 627–645.
Chomsky, N.: 1995, ‘Bare Phrase Structure’, in G. Webelhuth (ed.), Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 383–439.
Cowie, F.: (forthcoming), ‘Innateness of Language’, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, London.
Cowie, F.: (in preparation), Innate Ideas and Ideas of Innateness.
Culicover, P. and K. Wexler: 1977, ‘Some Syntactic Implications of a Theory of Language Learnability’, in P. Culicover, T. Wasow and A. Akmaijan (eds.), Formal Syntax, Academic Press, New York.
Demopoulos, W.: 1989, ‘On Applying Learnability Theory to the Rationalism-Empiricism Controversy’, in R. J. Matthews and W. Demopoulos (eds.), Learnability and Linguistic Theory, Kluwer, Amsterdam, pp. 77–88.
Demopoulos, W. and Marras, A.: 1986, Language Learning and Concept Acquisition: Foundational Issues, Ablex, Norwood, New Jersey.
Devitt, M. and K. Sterelny: 1989, ‘Linguistics: What’s Wrong with “The Right View”’, in J. E. Tomblin (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives 3: Philosophy of Mind and Action Theory, Ridgeway, Atascaterola, CA, pp. 495–531.
Ellis, H. D.: 1992a, ‘The Development of Face Processing Skills’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B (Biological Sciences) 335, 47–54.
Ellis, H. D.: 1992b: ‘A Wise Child: Face Perception by Human Neonates’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15, 514–15.
Friedin, R.: 1994, ‘The Principles and Parameters Framework of Generative Grammar’, in R. E. Asher (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Pergamon Press, Oxford.
Gold, E. M.: 1967, ‘Language Identification in the Limit’, Information and Control 10, 447–474.
Hamburger, H. and K. Wexler: 1975, ‘A Mathematical Theory of Learning Transformational Grammar’, Journal of Mathematical Psychology 12, 137–177.
Hornstein, N. and D. Lightfoot (eds.): 1981, Explanation in Linguistics: The Logical Problem of Language Acquisition, Longman, London.
Hume, D.: 1978, A Treatise of Human Nature, 2nd edn., L. A. Selby-Bigge and P. H. Nidditch (eds.), Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Lasnik, H.: 1989, ‘On Certain Substitutes for Negative Data’, in Demopoulos and Marras, pp. 89–105.
Lightfoot, D.: 1982, The Language Lottery: Towards a Biology of Grammars, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lightfoot, D.: 1989, ‘The Child’s Trigger-Experience: Degree-0 Learnability’, in Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12, 321–334.
Lightfoot, D.: 1991, How to Set Parameters: Arguments from Language Change, Bradford/ MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
McClelland, J. L. and D. E. Rumelhart.: 1986, ‘On Learning the Past Tenses of English Verbs’, in J. L. McClelland, D. E. Rumelhart et al. (eds.), Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition, Vol. 2, MIT Press/Bradford Books, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 216–270.
Newport, E., Gleitman, H. and Gleitman, L.: 1977, ‘Mother, Please, I’d Rather Do It Myself: Some Effects and Non-Effects of Maternal Speech Style’, in C. Snow and C. Ferguson (eds.), Talking to Children: Language Input and Acquisition, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp.109–150.
Pinker, S.: 1979, ‘Formal Models of Language Learning’, Cognition 7, 217–282.
Pinker, S.: 1984, Language Learnability and Language Development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Pinker, S.: 1986, ‘Productivity and Conservatism in Language Acquisition’, in Demopoulos and Marras, pp. 54–79.
Pinker, S.: 1989, Learnability and Cognition: The Acquisition of Argument Structure, Bradford/MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Pinker, S.: 1991, ‘Language Acquisition’, in D. N. Osherson and H. Lasnik (eds.), Language, An Invitation to Cognitive Science, Vol. 1, Bradford Books/MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Putnam, H.: 1971, ‘The “Innateness Hypothesis” and Explanatory Models in Linguistics’, in J. Searle (ed.), The Philosophy of Language, Oxford University Press, London.
Quine, W. V. O.: 1953, ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’, in From a Logical Point of View, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts.
Sampson, G.: 1953, ‘Language Acquisition: Growth or Learning?’, Philosophical Papers XLVII, 203–240.
Sells, P.: 1985, Lectures on Contemporary Syntactic Theories: An Introduction to Government-Binding Theory, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar and Lexical-Functional Grammar, CSLI, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
Soames, S.: 1984, ‘Linguistics and Psychology’, in Linguistics and Philosophy 7, 155–179.
Wexler, K., P.W. Culicover and K. Hamburger: 1975, ‘Learning-Theoretic Foundations of Linguistic Universals’, in Theoretical Linguistics 2, 215–253.
Wexler, K. and P. W. Culicover: 1980, Formal Principles of Language Acquisition, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cowie, F. THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. Synthese 111, 17–51 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004975305820
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004975305820
Keywords
- Language Learning
- Special Faculty
- Language Acquisition
- Logical Problem
- Data Proceeds