PSYC 341 Study Guide - Logical Consequence, Underdetermination, Universal Grammar

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 341
• Professor: Richard Koestner

Document Summary

Some basic assumptions: unconscious linguistic competence of native speakers is mentally represented by means of grammar, grammar includes syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, e. g. formal properties of lang. By means of grammar which includes lexicon (phonology, syntax, morphology, and semantics) context based conceptual. Language learners, l1 or l2, ust acquire grammar for target" lang. They are confronted with linguistic input. data, which must somehow be organized and made sense of, allowing learner to understand and produce lang: acquisition is nto instantaneous. *not clear how many stages they go through but they do go through stages. Logical problem: ambiguity: the * by a sentence means its ungrammatical, how do children know which one is ambiguous when both seem like possible answers. Principles of ug: underdetermination problem motivates innate linguistic knowledge (in form of uq principles) to explain how children come to acquire certain properties of lang not inducible from input.