Univerzalna Gramatika

7/27/2019 Univerzalna Gramatika

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NOAM CHOMSKY’S UNIVERSAL

GRAMMAR

Modern tendencies in linguistics



WHAT IS UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR?

Universal grammar is the system of principles, conditions and rules that are

elements or properties of all human

languages.

(Chomsky, 1976:29)



LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE

The early Universal Grammar Model

Input ----- LAD ----- Output(language data) (grammar of a

language)

According to Chomsky, LAD is the

neurological system in the brain that

facilitates language development



INNATENESS HYPOTHESIS

Chomsky claims that the process of languageacquisition is genetically predetermined byinnate language faculty.

The only thing child requires is the exposure tolanguage so it could master it.

Orphans from Africa

Critical period

Wild children



CHOMSKY VS SKINNER

Nativist: * grammar is innate

* needs little data

Behaviorist: * grammar is learnable

* needs robust data

Language could have gradually evolved by natural selection. Pinker, 1995



THE POVERTY OF STIMULUS ARGUMENT

How do we learn so much on the basis of solittle evidence?

Not enough information for the rich complexlanguage that children acquire at such ayoung age

Children are never really taught a languageyet they recognize the ungrammaticalsentences



Children learn through:

Positive evidence (the natural input that child

receives)

Negative evidence: - direct (explicit

corrections)

- indirect

(ungrammatical input)

Pidgin and Creole languages



LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

All human natural languages share the same

basic materials for building their grammar

All languages have:

verbs, nouns, pronouns…

grammatical structures to make a question grammatical structures to distinct present,

past and future…



PARAMETERS SETTINGS

When child gets input he sets his parameters

according to the situation

(a) Mario parla italiano. (b) Parla italiano.

(c) Mario speaks Italian. (d) Speaks Italian.*

Italian is a null-subejct language whileEnglish is not.



Parameters are binary in nature

That explains why children learn so fast and

error-free

In conclusion that children in the acquisition

of grammar have the twin task of lexical

learning and parameters settings.



TRANSFORMATION RULES

Transformation rules connect deep structure

and surface structure

Sentences may be presented in the brain at

two levels:

One can be heard or seen – surface

structure

One cannot be heard or seen – deep

structure



Transformation rules will change or move

constituents in the structures derive from the

phrase structure rules.

S

NP VP

Pron V NP

Det N

You close the door



D-structure

S-structure

LF PF

Relation between cognitive system and language

Transformationa

l rules

Logical formPhonetic

form



DEEP STRUCTURE

Deep structure refers to the underlying meaning of a sentence as it is represented inthe brain. (Chomsky, 1957.)

The boy kicked the ball.

The ball was kicked by the boy.

Ambiguous sentences:

I have seen driving man.

• I have seen a man driving.

• I have seen a man who normally drives.



THE GOVERNMENT AND BINDING THEORY

In G/B theory UG is broken into two maincomponents: level of representation and asystem of constraints

Lexicon

D-structure

S-structure

PF LF



syntax

phonetic form (PF) logical form (LF)

PF and LF constitute the interface between

language and other cognitive systems

(Chomsky, 1986.)

Syntax functions as a “bridge” between soundsand meanings (Cook, 1988.)



THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

M. Nenadović



LITERATURE:

P. Matthews, A short history of structural

linguistics, Cambridge 2003

N. Chomsky, Reflections on language,

London 1976

A. Radford, Minimalist syntax, Cambridge

2006

N. Čomski, Gramatika i um, Beograd, 1972

V. Cook, The poverty of stimulus argument,

Thessaloniki, 1990

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Univerzalna Gramatika