1. Beyond Developmental Compatibility A Note On Generative Linguistics and the Developmentalist Challenge.
- Author
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González, Guillermo Lorenzo
- Subjects
- *
LANGUAGE acquisition , *BIOLINGUISTICS , *CHILD development , *MINIMALIST theory (Linguistics) , *GENERATIVE grammar , *HEURISTIC - Abstract
The study of language acquisition within the Chomskyan tradition has moved from a stage in which the developmental path of languages in the mind of children was ignored to a stage in which theoreticians accept that their proposals must be compatible with developmental facts, yet without really explaining them. This article suggests that generative linguistics has now attained the degree of maturity required to surpass old idealizations and carry out the task of explaining how core properties of languages grow in the mind of infants, instead of presupposing them as directly given in the genetic makeup of the species. This transition from 'taking development into account' to 'taking development seriously' is a necessary step for generative linguistics to gain credibility as a biolinguistic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013