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Language Theory Notes for 09.25.06
Is language encoded in DNA?
How much is built in?
Acquiring Language is different than learning.
Are verbal errors really errors? (We are trying to make the irregular, regular.)
Children don’t know how to truly speak incorrectly.
When there are errors that no child would make, it is assumed that these errors would break a rule of universal grammar.
English is not innate, but language is.
There are no primitive languages.
Language Analogy theory doesn’t work (if you know one sentence, you can produce another one like it (but only other ones like it)).
Language is like physical growth.
Children are pre-programmed with the outlines for language.
Children are biased learners: they take in all of the comprehensible input and build upon it.
First assumptions for learning language:
Words are always applied to the whole object
Each word has an exclusive meaning.
How does a child learn meaning?
Learning meaning is only done by applying a word to new concepts or objects.
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Author: Ben Wilkoff
He is married to his favorite person, and loves his three children quite a little bit (aged 8, 13 and 15). He is passionate about authentic learning, technology with purpose, and creating at least one new thing every day. In short, he teaches, and learns. A lot.
Also, he co-founded WouldYouLikeABanana.com with his wife, Kara.
