How New Languages EmergeNew languages are constantly emerging, as existing languages diverge into different forms. To explain this fascinating process, we need to understand how languages change and how they emerge in children. In this pioneering study, David Lightfoot explains how languages come into being, arguing that children are the driving force. He explores how new systems arise, how they are acquired by children, and how adults and children play different, complementary roles in language change. Lightfoot makes an important distinction between 'external language' (language as it exists in the world), and 'internal language' (language as represented in an individual's brain). By examining the interplay between the two, he shows how children are 'cue-based' learners, who scan their external linguistic environment for new structures, making sense of the world outside in order to build their internal language. Engaging and original, this book offers an interesting account of language acquisition, variation and change. |
Contents
Section 1 | 17 |
Section 2 | 23 |
Section 3 | 40 |
Section 4 | 66 |
Section 5 | 87 |
Section 6 | 112 |
Section 7 | 113 |
Section 8 | 139 |
Section 9 | 161 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
analysis analyzed anaphor Anglo-Saxon Chronicle argued bounding nodes change in I-languages child Chomsky cladograms clitic coindexed complement copied corresponding creole languages cue-based cues daughter languages deleted develop discussed distinct domains Dutch elements embedded clauses emerge example explain expressions external language finite verbs forms French function German grammaticalization hear historical linguists I-languages identify Indo-European languages inflectional input Jim Kim Kim’s kind language acquisition language capacity language change Latin learnable learners Lightfoot main clauses markedness markers Middle English modal auxiliaries models morphology nineteenth century notion noun object-verb order occur Old English operation parameter settings parsing people’s person’s phrase pidgin position postulated poverty-of-stimulus problems pronouns properties Proto-Indo-European proto-language reconstruct Romance languages sets of sentences signed languages speakers speech split genitives structure syntactic syntax thematic role triggering experience unembedded variation verb-object order verb-second XP-V order yield