Stephen van Vlack

Sookmyung Women`s University

Graduate School of English

Introduction to Linguistics

Fall 2003

Answers to Cook and Newson, `Chapter 1`

What is the basic nature of Universal Grammar as seen by Chomsky?

1. Chomsky sees Universal Grammar (UG) as a set of conditions that all languages share. These conditions are part of the hardwiring of that brain and in that respect are innate. They are part of what Chomsky calls the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). In fact, the set of conditions for UG might even be the LAD itself but since the LAD is a very mysterious thing and little has been done to empirically study it or its possible makeup we simply do not know. Chomsky does not see universals as constraining possible grammars (although they certainly do that), rather Chomsky sees universals as the building blocks of language. They are what define and make up language. Universal grammar, for its part, is the pursuit of these universals. For Chomsky and his followers the search for universals means working abstractly within a single language to find the basic principles from which that language is built. Cross-linguistic co-occurrences are only usefully sought after a certain stage has been found by looking internally.

What is the main concept of structure-dependency and why is this very simple idea so important to Chomsky`s theory of UG?

2. Structure-dependency is the first main idea that Chomsky came up with in his search for universals. It is considered the most basic principle of universal grammar. Structure-dependency claims that the units of language are somehow attached to or linked with each other is different ways forming stronger and weaker bonds. Through these bonds smaller units are able to link with other units to form larger, yet still cohesive units. These larger units are the basic blocks upon which language is built because they contain meaning. From a more theoretical point of view, structure-dependency further says is that the surface representations of language (what actually comes out of someone`s mouth) are not really important. The distinct and separate elements (and here it is not clear where we are supposed to stop breaking up the elements) are not important, it is the larger units which are built by structure dependency that must be studied. The main conclusion that Chomsky came to as a result of structure-dependency was that linguistic operations occur at a level below the surface: at the phrase level. Once more, all languages function at this level.

How does the head parameter work and why is it also important?

3. The head is the most important or main element in a phrase. All phrases have heads. A quick study of phrases indicates that languages differ in respect to which side of the phrase the head appears. This a parameter that all languages share. There are two options to headedness, right and left (last and first). English is a left headed language because the heads come on the left sides of the phrases. Korean, on the other hand is a right headed language because the heads come on the right in Korean phrases. This is important because this simple little parameter accounts for major differences in languages. It should, however be noted that not all languages conform neatly to this parameter, German for example is claimed to be head last for verbal phrases but head first in other phrasal types.

A. Ich habe den Frosch noch nicht gesehen. (I have the frog still not seen.)

B. Sie ist eine sehr kluge Studentin. (She is a very smart student.)

How does the projection principle work? Give several examples from any language to support your argument.

4. The projection principle states that lexical entries (words) must have not only semantic, but also grammatical information encoded in them. What happens when we go to say something, then, is that the lexical item is triggered. As the lexical item is triggered, necessary grammatical information on how that item is used is also triggered. This grammatical information is them used to project the lexical item into the correct slot in the utterance. This grammatical information may also be used to create the surrounding linguistic environment. It is through the projection principle that grammatically acceptable utterances are created. Not all the possible information is housed in the lexicon. It is assumed that only idiosyncratic and productive information is housed there. For example the verb walk is a regular verb. There is no need to encode its past tense form in the lexicon. The verb go, on the other had, is an irregular verb and we assume that its past tense form must be encoded in the lexicon and projected into the phrase at the time of utterance construction.

In this chapter Cook and Newson identify 2 principles and 1 parameter. What exactly is the difference between principles and parameters?

5. Universal grammar is composed of principles and parameters. Both of them are hardwired into the brain, but they are enacted at slightly different times and work in different ways. Principles are more simple. They start to work automatically from birth and there are no options to them, so they work in precisely the same way in all languages. Thus, the projection principle since it is part of the brain in a fixed form is present and works the same way in all languages. Parameters, however, entail options which are realized differently in different languages or in the same language across time. They are usually polar in that they offer a two choices as in the case of the head parameter. All children are born with the configuration for parameters in their head just like principles, but they cannot use them until they have figured out their particular language`s value for the parameter. To determine their language`s parameter settings children need a certain amount of comprehensible and meaningful input to trigger the setting mechanism. Little children born into an English-speaking country will listen to their language (English) and because they have this head parameter they will eventually figure out that their language has this value. Once the value has been set, the process of placing heads becomes automatic and infallible.

What is the main difference between i-language and e-language research? Which approach do you think has the most merits?

6. I-language and e-language research differ primarily on the level that the research is done. E-research is done by analyzing surface representations of huge amounts of language samples. I-research, on the other hand, tries to analyze language from a deeper place. These researchers try to figure out the underlying process of language by creating a system of language generation which can be studied. They do not look at the sentences people actually say as e-researchers do. They make up their own sentences and check themselves if the sentences are possible or not and test their system that way.

E-language people think of language as a social phenomenon. They are concerned with many aspects of language. I-language people are only concerned with trying to describe the knowledge base that language is formed from (competence). They think it is not important to see how that knowledge is actually used in the real world.

Is Chomsky`s approach to language today is generally positive (creative)? In the beginning the model called transformational grammar was highly rule governed. Modern UG is quite different. Rather than trying to constrain a language from the top, it is better, he feels, to try to find ways pf building the language up from the bottom. This is the essence of i-research.

How do competence and performance differ from one another and how has Chomsky recently tried to come to terms with the performance side of language?

7. Competence is what i-researchers study. It is everything that a speaker knows about their language, or really about the structure of their language. It is raw knowledge. Performance is what speakers do with their competence. It is the surface manifestation of the competence. Chomsky says that all speakers of the same language, regardless of intelligence, have the same competence. Performance differences make some people better users of language than others. Traditionally, Chomsky has ignored the performance side of language, but recently he conceded that there is something called pragmatic competence which determines how the knowledge (linguistic competence) we have is used to make utterances which fit the situation we find ourselves in. As far as other performance factors go, Chomsky thinks that they are not part of the language module itself or at least not a part of any language module that he has any time for.

How do typological universals work?

8. Typological universals provide an alternative, e-based, approach to UG. Researchers working in this field look at huge amounts of data from as many languages as possible. They search for similarities that languages hold. Some universals are absolute which means that all languages have them. Other are mathematical which means that a vast majority of languages share the same feature, but there are a few exceptions. The most interesting of the universals are implicational universals. Implicational universals show the relationship between systems of language. They state that if one thing (A) is present in a language then (B) must also be present and if (A) and (B) are both present then (C) is also required.

Typological universals make great use of the terms marked and unmarked. Researchers in this field arrange certain grammatical features across languages in hierarchies. These hierarchies are based on the relative markedness of the constructions. More marked structures occur less frequently in the world`s languages and are frequently more complex. For researchers working in this tradition, if a language has a marked structure, it will also have all the unmarked structures as well.

Why is it important that we look at typological universals in addition to UG?

9. It is important to look at typological universals because they seem to hold some grain of truth. Researchers looking into second language acquisition have reported that when they taught their students marked structures, but not unmarked structures, the students almost automatically picked up the full range of unmarked structures in the languages, as predicted by typological studies. Likewise, teaching unmarked structures first did not help the students at all in learning marked structures. Based on this evidence it is not easy to simply dismiss typological universals as statistical nonsense. They seem to have some sort of psychological reality.

Do you think that the language faculty is independent or closely integrated with other parts of the mind?

10. For Chomsky it is central to his theory that the language faculty is a separate sub-system of knowledge. Obviously, there are connections to other parts of the brain and other cognitive systems, but he sees language as being much more complicated than other systems. Chomsky believes that language is too complex and too specialized to fit in or have the same origin as other cognitive structures which derive from a common set of very basic and highly abstract principles. He believes that language evolved separately from the other parts of the brain. This has far reaching effects on how linguistics should be done.

If language is a separate and differently configured set of knowledge then there is no reason to look at other parts of the brain or systems of knowledge. How raw linguistic knowledge interacts with the more social aspects of the brain is unimportant. Chomsky also vehemently downplays and fights against claims that linguistic development and other types of development in children are interlaced. He flatly rejects Piaget`s claims that cognitive development and linguistic development are reliant on each other based on the fact that linguistic development is governed by UG and UG alone and says that any similarities in the timing are merely coincidental.

What is the difference between a principle and a rule and how does language use these?

11. The former is positive and the latter is negative. Rules are used to constrain what is possible in language. In this way they work in a negative fashion. They do not help us in figuring out how a language really works. They merely tell us what is possible. Principles are the opposite. Principles are statements about how language functions, its most fundamental properties. They are the building blocks of language and as such are positive and do help linguists better understand how languages work.