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SUMMARY:The Process of Adjunction\, Composition\, and Acquisition: Why Int
 ernal Merge and Simplify are robust biolinguistic Operations - Prof Tom Ro
 eper (UMass)
DTSTART:20121026T150000Z
DTEND:20121026T170000Z
UID:TALK41296@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Teresa Parodi
DESCRIPTION:Why do young children so easily generate forms like:\n\n	"ther
 e no squirrels\, there no more these"		(Eve  1/11yr)\n\nAnd why do childre
 n younger than 5yrs allow relative clauses on sentences like these:\n\n	"i
 t cost a dollar and ten cents which you already knew"\n\n\nSpontaneous ear
 ly acquisition evidence supports Chomsky (2012)'s claim that Internal Merg
 e (move) is conceptually simpler than External Merge and therefore should 
 occur first\, contrary to the general view that Move is more complex.  Ana
 phoric-there\, which involves binding\, is delayed. Unlike Nishigauchi and
  Roeper (1987) and Sigusdottir (2011) who have sought to explain acquisiti
 on in terms of reference or "3rd factors"\, this modernized view of parame
 ters supports Hyams (1986) on the role of there-insertion and Holmberg (20
 10) on parametric clusters.\n\nWe will argue for two opposite phenomena in
  acquisition: Internal Merge and Adjunction (Pair-Merge) with Simplify\, e
 vidence for two-steps in the acquisition of all forms of External Merge.  
 The argument will be that identifying the Label of a new element in acquis
 ition requires first Linearization\, then projection of a shared feature\,
  and finally a Probe-Goal subcategorization operation that establishes SET
 -Merge.  As with light verbs\, the acquisition process involves projection
  from the Complement to the verb\, which UG then re-analyzes as a verb-com
 plement connection.\n\nThe translation of "technical solutions" into "lead
 ing ideas" is critical in the building of a biologically "robust" theory. 
  Acquisition steps which occur chronologically are ideal evidence for this
  kind of theory-building.\n
LOCATION:Lecture Block room 4\, Sidgwick Site
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