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Related Experiment Videos

What sort of innate structure is needed to "bootstrap" into syntax?

M D Braine1

  • 1Department of Psychology, New York University, NY 10003.

Cognition
|October 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary

This study revises Pinker's language acquisition theory by replacing innate syntax with innate semantic structure. This approach explains syntactic category origins and improves upon existing models for language variation.

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Area of Science:

  • Linguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Steven Pinker's theory of phrase structure acquisition posits innate syntactic structures.
  • Existing models often postulate innate syntactic categories, limiting explanations for their origin.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To revise Pinker's theory by removing assumptions of innate syntactic structure.
  • To explore the role of innate semantic representation in language acquisition.
  • To account for the origin of syntactic categories.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical revision of Pinker's parallel model.
  • Formal comparison of bootstrapping and semantic assimilation theories.
  • Analysis of language variation evidence.

Main Results:

  • Innate semantic structure can replace innate syntactic structure in language acquisition models.
  • Semantic assimilation theories offer a mechanism for deriving syntactic categories.
  • A revised model shows improved fit with language variation data, particularly NP-VP division.

Conclusions:

  • Language acquisition may rely on innate semantic representations rather than innate syntactic structures.
  • Semantic assimilation provides a more parsimonious account of syntactic category emergence.
  • The revised model offers a more robust explanation for cross-linguistic variation.

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