Rich Languages from Poor Inputs

This book addresses one of the most famous and controversial arguments in the study of language and mind, the Poverty of the Stimulus. Presented by Chomsky in 1968, the argument holds that children do not receive enough evidence to infer the existence of core aspects of language, such as the dependence of linguistic rules on hierarchical phrase structure. The argument strikes against empiricist accounts of language acquisition and supports the conclusion that knowledge of some aspects of grammar must be innate. In the first part of Rich Grammars from Poor Inputs, contributors consider the general issues around the POS argument, review the empirical data, and offer new and plausible explanations. This is followed by a discussion of the the processes of language acquisition, and observed 'gaps' between adult and child grammar, concentrating on the late spontaneous acquisition by children of some key syntactic principles, basically, though not exclusively, between the ages of 5 to 9. Part 3 widens the horizon beyond language acquisition in the narrow sense, examining the natural development of reading and writing and of the child's growing sensitivity for the fine arts.
"Offers a very comprehensive and detailed overview of the state of current POS research and offers great insight into POS problems currently under investigation in the field of language acquisition." --Linguist List

1. Introduction ; PART 1 POVERTY OF THE STIMULUS AND MODULARITY REVISITED ; 2. Poverty of the Stimulus Stands: Why recent challenges fail ; 3. Children's Acquisition of Syntax: Simple models are too simple ; 4. Poverty of the Stimulus: Willingness to be puzzled ; 5. Revisiting Modularity: Using language as a window to the mind ; 6. Every Child an Isolate: Nature's experiments in language learning ; PART 2: DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN CHILD GRAMMAR AND ADULT GRAMMAR ; 7. Recent Findings About Language Acquisition ; 8. Ways of Avoiding Intervention: Some thoughts on the development of object relatives, passive, and control ; 9. Merging From the Temporal Input: On subject-object asymmetries and an ergative language ; 10. Tough-Movement Developmental Delay: Another effect of phasal computation ; 11. Assessing Child and Adult Grammar ; 12. Three Aspects of the Relation Between Lexical and Syntactic Knowledge ; PART 3: BROADENING THE PICTURE: SPELLING ANDRREADING ; 13. Children's Invented Spelling: What we have learned in forty years ; 14. How Insights into Child Language Changed the Development of Written Language ; 15. The Phonology of Invented Spelling ; 16. The Arts as Language: Invention, identity, and learning ; References ; Index