Language Acquisition Meets Language Evolution

Language Acquisition Meets Language Evolution

Recent research suggests that language evolution is a process of cultural change, in which linguistic structures are shaped through repeated cycles of learning and use by domain-general mechanisms. This paper draws out the implications of this viewpoint for understanding the problem of language acquisition, which is cast in a new, and much more tractable, form. In essence, the child faces a pro...

Editorial: Language Acquisition and Evolution

Co-evolution of Language and of the Language Acquisition Device

A new account of parameter setting during grammatical acquisition is presented in terms of Generalized Categorial Grammar embedded in a default inheritance hierarchy , providing a natural partial ordering on the setting of parameters. Experiments show that several experimentally effective learners can be defined in this framework. Ew)lutionary simulations suggest that a lea.rner with default in...

native language acquisition in children (first language acquisition)

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Language development and acquisition in children

Language acquisition is a natural developmental process and is unique to Homo sapiens in which a child acquiring his or her mother tongue as a first language.  The simplest theory of language development is that children learn language by imitating adult language. A second possibility is that children acquire language through conditioning. Noam Chomsky put forward innateness hypothesis. Piaget ...