Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dupre, Gabe

Titel

Empiricism, syntax, and ontogeny

Ist Teil von

• Philosophical psychology, 2021-10, Vol.34 (7), p.1011-1046

Ort / Verlag

Abingdon: Routledge

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Taylor & Francis

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Generative grammarians typically advocate for a rationalist understanding of language acquisition, according to which the structure of a developed language faculty reflects innate guidance rather than environmental influence. This proposal is developed in developmental linguistics by triggering models of language acquisition. Opposing this tradition, various theorists have advocated for empiricist views of language acquisition, according to which the structure of a developed linguistic competence reflects the linguistic environment in which this competence developed. On this picture, linguistic development is accounted for by general statistical learning mechanisms. In this article I shall precisify the debate, provide a clearer picture of what is at stake, and show why an intermediate picture is needed.