How to Set Parameters: Arguments from Language Change

Lightfoot, David

ISBN 10: 0262121530 / ISBN 13: 9780262121538

Published by Mit Pr, 1991

About this Item

Ships quickly. Slight wear and a tear in top of jacket cover. Pages are unmarked and in good condition. Orphans Treasure Box sells books to raise money for orphans and vulnerable kids. Seller Inventory # BED-12152023-LAK003

Bibliographic Details

Title: How to Set Parameters: Arguments from ...

Publisher: Mit Pr

Publication Date: 1991

Binding: hardcover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Over the past decade generative grammarians have viewed language acquisition as a process of fixing option points or parameters defined in Universal Grammar. Here David Lightfoot addresses the crucial question of what it takes to set a parameter, of what kind of experience is needed to trigger the emergence of a natural kind of grammar.Lightfoot asserts that parameter setting is not sensitive to embedded material, that it is triggered only by robust elements that are structurally simple. He observes that morphological properties play a significant role in setting parameters which. have widespread syntactic effects. Using evidence from data on diachronic changes and from current work in syntactic theory, Lightfoot makes precise claims about the triggering experience that can explain a number of historical puzzles. He argues that the changes could have taken place in the way they did only if language acquisition proceeds on the basis of simple, unembedded experiences.Along the way Lightfoot examines consequences of the loss of the rich Old English case system and of the breakdown of the verb classes and takes up particularly illuminating cases of obsolescent structures.David Lightfoot is Professor and Chairman of the Linguistics Department at the University of Maryland.

About the Author:

David Lightfoot is Professor and Chairman of the Linguistics Department at the University of Maryland.