Language acquisition, variation and change
24.921, Fall 2009
Michel DeGraff and Ken Wexler
There’s a long and strong tradition, going back to at least the
Neo-Grammarians, of attempting to explain language change via the
processes of language acquisition. Yet, in each of the relevant
sub-disciplines of linguistic theory, historical linguistics and
language-acquisition research there are several competing hypotheses
that enlist incompatible assumptions about the nature of grammar and
variation.
The purpose of this seminar is to discuss the most up-to-date
approaches in the study of language acquisition and language change,
as well as linguistic theory, toward providing the best possible
framework for the connection among the corresponding empirical
domains. We understand “language change” broadly—-to include
diachronic syntax (in the history, say, of English) alongside the
creation of “new” languages (in the history of, say, Haitian Creole).
We’ll examine all of these diachronic patterns as examples of the
human linguistic capacity coming to terms with varying input in the
linguistic ecology. Thus, processes of first- and second-language
acquisition, and the differences between the two, should be crucial to
understanding language-change phenomena. The results of our
discussion should contribute to our understanding of the nature of
language in the human mind and the conditions and limits whereby
language can vary.
The first couple of lectures will discuss central issues in, and a sample
of models from, the study of historical change and language
acquisition, including:
- the relationship between language contact and language change;
- whether language change is ever possible in absence of language
contact; - the nature of “creolization”;
- the relationship between first- and second-language acquisition and
language change; - whether the language acquirer comes equipped with a set of “cues”
that enable parameters to be set.
Then we’ll turn to particular domains of language variation related to
basic parameters of clause and nominal structure, possibly including
the following issues:
- Does the language have V-to-I? Yes: French / No: Haitian Creole
- Does the language have (non-residual) V-to-C? Yes: German / No: English
- Is a (phonetically overt) copula required for non-verbal
predication? Yes: English / No: Haitian Creole - Distribution and interpretation of determiners
For each of these domains we’ll look for evidence in comparative
syntax, historical change, and language acquisition.
We expect the seminar to be of interest to colleagues interested in:
- linguistic theory;
- first- and second-language acquisition;
- language change/creation;
- the relationship between language and larger issues of cognition.