sampson educating eve g sampson 1997 educating eve language instinct debate cassell london 184pp reviewed feargal murphy university college dublin rise generative linguistics 60s gave new lease life old nature vs nurture debate behaviourist model language judged failure explaining process language acquisition new theory language acquisition emerged rooted philosophy descartes 17th century well humboldt ultimately plato came known linguistic nativism rationalist linguistics associated noam chomsky central tenet theory children born kind language acquisition device already place brains allows acquire language environment within linguistic nativism debate whether device provides merely general rules allow acquisition language whether rich innate system provides complete basis language acquisition child acquire complexities language time general cognitive development could possibly cope complexity rationalist tradition behind linguistic nativism always contrast empiricism states ideas knowledge including knowledge language come experience obtained senses innate knowledge view goes back 17th century writings locke berkeley hume modern era also associated philosophers vienna circle karl popper _ educating eve _ certainly determine outcome nature vs nurture debate opinion lead productive insight debate book fails understand scope import nativist arguments consequently falls short presenting genuine criticism stands book applauded already favourably disposed towards conclusions derided _ educating eve _ henceforth _ ee _ argues writings chomsky well pinker language instinct bickerton language species jackendoff patterns mind three books essentially aimed general rather specialist reader result targeting three books make arguments nativism appear weak superficial desire rescue public opinion wrong path recurring theme author work _ language liberty _ also argued nonnativist view language main aim discourage people following left wing politics author politics unfortunately emerge strong force book given importance nativism debate shall focus primarily important linguistic issues leaving aside politics except cloud issues surrounding nativism alternative nativism book argues essentially version karl popper empiricism according view ability learn may innate domain specific innate mechanisms involved learning people learn language community belong way learn anything else trial error make original though fallible conjectures test objective reality p 137 quotes _ ee _ unless otherwise indicated eventually using method individual comes learn language learn wholly cultural constructs p 137 e language rather language use chomsky terminology note conception language _ ee _ totally different chomsky jackendoff bickerton pinker nativists language belong society rather individual issue actually addressed book _ ee _ merely states language cultural artifact biological furnish evidence claim book also states popper belief mind amenable scientific theorising p 138 unable find evidence book support claim however one assumes mind outside domain scientific inquiry simply becomes impossible engage debate merits specifics nativist theory first task book undertakes demolish chomsky arguments nativism sourcing material 1991 demolish econd wave nativists pinker foremost second wave book utilises many arguments noteworthy others would beyond scope review examine look arguments less random arguments chomsky centre sampson perceives basis nativism 1 speed acquisition 2 age dependence 3 poverty data 4 convergence among grammars 5 language universals 6 species specificity _ ee _ claims first argument speed acquisition hollow way determining exactly peed could area however seems uncontroversial enough children acquire language faster adults without problems adults encounter attempt book address notion whether different languages acquired different speeds whether different children acquiring language radically different sequences would seem distinct possibility innate language specific faculty rather rely generalised learning mechanism look evidence regarding language acquisition across languages would helped make case conclusive book dealt data available order show nonnativist account language acquisition could capture facts instead _ ee _ relies notion popperian account cope well nativist account closer common sense view language prove popperian account right chomsky second argument age dependence dismissed book states humans learn language age see task worthwhile p 36 however author describe procedure assessing worthwhileness task child would find worthwhile learn language needs met compliant adults responding nonlinguistic communication addressed early vocalisations children evidence beginnings language acquisition child deciding early age language worthwhile stage seems difficult believe child weighing options see may may worthwhile following logic could extend criterion worthwhileness learning learning walk eliminate innate component well book states plenty cases record adults mastering second language nativespeaker standard apart accent p 36 quite sure might mean achieve nativespeaker standard apart accent book suggests without providing crucial evidence learning general process biological reasons far rapid puberty p 37 supposed show age dependence proof critical period language acquisition using innate language acquisition device critical period one features characteristic innate behaviour age dependence according book falls slowing learning process general puberty however seems contradict argument age dependence adult master second language native speaker standard author also states susan curtiss regarded genie refuting strong version lenneberg claim natural language acquisition occur puberty p 37 susan curtiss might want respond one understanding work genie genie language rulegoverned creative linguistic behaviour able achieve anything close native speaker competence observation curtiss p 204 even though would indeed worthwhile furthermore linguistic development follow course children acquiring language normally suggests genie ability learn language diminished due age important point cognitive development areas seemed affected would also worthwhile chelsea learned language yet chelsea achieve native speaker standard see jackendoff _ patterns mind _ third argument presented chomsky nativism according book poverty data acquisition arguments chomsky presented book bear close scrutiny according book motherese provides graded series language lessons p 39 degenerate poverty data argument states particularly new references cited author early 70s fact however really yet know role motherese plays learning acquiring language one thing worth noting language teaching theory proposes adults could effectively taught second language taught motherese also true yet exist conclusive studies universality motherese although wide variety language groups studied show high degree similarity cultures motherese seems play less role different motherese see english speaking world fact motherese child directed speech seems make task learning acquiring language much easier allow high degree socialisation seen fact simplification structure decreased greatly parent child longer presence observer merely taped motherese wa benefit child course language way innate left problem explaining child directed speech perfectly graded series language lessons infant despite fact adults taught give language lessons perhaps empiricist would say ability give graded series lessons language innate author states popperian account language learning would allow child determine general principles input would adult wants learn language important nativist account holds basic principles language innate thus available use determining going language input individuals learning language via popperian method would use learning abilities work general principles input without principles already available head make cases specific language impairment rate learning acquisition language seems different areas learning whole basis popperian analysis language acquisition different domain learning occurs consequently predicts could difference acquisition language learning cognitive domains prediction runs counter reported facts clearly presented yamada 1990 book laura case study modularity language arguing chomsky author takes chomsky much used example english speaking children determining ask yes questions seeking show chomsky dishonest analysis verifying data child working make yes question english work verb moved verb main clause first verb encountered sentence work child distinguish verbs words also main verbs auxiliary verbs well knowing structure phrases sentence child work auxiliary verbs main clause move beginning sentence main verbs appear infinitive tensed occurs beginning sentence chomsky point children learn make distinctions move appropriate verb appropriate position form yes question great ease author chomsky agree analysis rule involved forming yes question differ belief exposure children yes questions main clause first clause sentence rather subordinate clause appears first man talking bill wearing gloves chomsky claim child may encounter question language hears determining rule yes question formation _ ee _ argues sentences indeed present language children hear book actually prove children hear crucial form yes question determine yes question formation rule shown instead argued structures available children read children nt read learn language well indeed quite possible children form rule yes question formation ever learn read author claims shows chomsky wildly mistaken p 42 paraphrases situation follows man world leading living intellectual according cambridge university second plato basing radical reassessment human nature largely claim certain thing never happens tells us strains credulity think might happen never looked people looked find happens lot p 4243 people looked sampson geoff pullum p 42 checked sources written language said ignores fact illiterate children also speak fact enamoured author written word argues historically hypotaxis emerges literacy develops somehow organisation involved writing leads great leaps forward language finally admit great research topic blames linguistics departments popular topic research linguistics departments p 75 nothing prevent taping speakers modern preliterate languages one find cultures could classed preliterate without qualifications order test occurrence hypotaxis author nt seem u ndertaken task book nt opt fully idea little hypotaxis languages ancient preliterate cultures author states hedging bets little hypotaxis languages hebrew old testament etc real difference recent languages p 75 obvious reasons never answer question whether hypotaxis hebrew writing indeed writing still fairly recent innovation true serious investigation parataxis subordination various languages carried goes back one hundred years book claims cliche late nineteenth century linguistics early stages languages long recorded history showed development called parataxis hypotaxis p 74 cites great linguists like karl brugmann hermann paul eduard hermann support notion languages go paratactic stage hypotactic stage two problems firstly nineteenth century linguists would happy notion hypotaxis emerged writing developed hermann jacobi 1897 work composition und nebensatz concluded maori like early stages pie may contained relative particle subordination lehmann p 60 jacobi claiming pie subordination basis hypotaxis brugmann paul hermann secondly really reason believe nineteenth century linguists got everything right comparative historical linguistics idea hypotaxis emerged previous stage must seen alongside ideas nineteenth century linguistics development languages primitive systems complex systems fourth argument book looks convergence among grammars notion people varying levels intelligence exposure different language inputs converge grammar book claims p 46 chomsky admitted educated people may know mother tongue better fit language approach obviously representative chomsky theory language language approach excludes possibility mother tongue e language people mastered varying degrees chomsky things english hungarian swahili exist meaningful way controversial point chomsky mother tongue divorced individual knowledge second line argument identified sampson people actually converge grammar give different grammatical judgments response data book refers labov work presented austerlitz 1974 respondents varied judgments grammaticality presented sentences really interesting thing people taking test understood instructions oral written given concerning test hard see could understanding said unless pretty much grammars language used instructions would likely contained variety syntactic constructions reports people completing test remarking ungrammaticality instructions given easy find people varying groups even individuals time ask assess sentences every one boys nt go fact individuals differ judgment time shows tested individual competence adult competence vary although performance might large number factors determine whether individual would judge sentence like one given perfectly grammatical borderline totally ungrammatical fact variation reported judgments fact constitute argument convergence among grammars test grammars rather test performance intuitions sentences involving scope relations quantifiers negation vary many factors bear performance book also contends pp 107 137 existence language universals explained fact popperian learning system automatically yield universals result nature language faculty instead derive popperian system learning author show popperian account better nativist account capturing facts case nativism proven language universals agree exist must explicable either within popperian system least explained better popperian learning theory book book targets pinker language instinct sampson decides devote much effort book somewhat puzzling pinker book aimed fairly general audience really worthwhile target among arguments pinker find assumption surnames actual words individual languages means existence person england ri first three letters surname means ri possible initial consonant cluster english p 83 author also cant resist taking potshot imagines pinker political views tone response pinker one condescension irritating detracts points author may trying make well irrelevant substantive issues worst attack saved bickerton book seeks portray intellectual lightweight unappealing way p 76 bickerton stuff must real hit green students hawaii surely much expect personal abuse would kept realm intellectual debate book also takes jackendoff stating jackendoff writes well jackendoff one best writers among linguistic nativists p 76 forgiving nativist jackendoff reaches word instinct hastily cases trust use word judiciously real questions resolved p 79 main issue picked jackendoff work relates sign language one stage author says arguing jackendoff analysis universal grammar jackendoff shortly beforehand pointed one aspect american sign language grammar paralleled spoken language signlanguage equivalent third person pronouns consists gesturing hand shapes movements depend whether reference singular plural possessive locations signing space assigned successive topics conversations effect many different thirdperson pronouns available discernible locations signing space spoken language pronoun system remotely like part innate knowledge p 78 author missing point sign language expresses person number gender possession spoken language features found spoken language system spoken language use pronouns sign language exactly use pronouns spoken language based universal grammar different modality availability signing space means signer introduce greater number pronouns discourse pronoun allocated location signing space without leading confusion fact could use many second person singular pronouns wanted long looked individual addressing pronoun looking person referring pronoun really signer using sign space tag pronouns true second person pronouns could talking say members football team refer individual using third person pronoun could quite clear head picked time would confusing person talking would way distinguish referents pronouns sign language exploit possibility signing space tagging meaning pronoun location space whole thing get confusing potential oral sign language sign exploit signing space way oral language point limitations imposed language modality jackendoff saying universal grammar underlies language matter modality last chapter book creative mind presents sampson view popper without problems author devotes much time arguing popper nt always mean said sampson analysis popper best however crucial lines chapter purposes nature vs nurture minds topic open scientific theorising p 139 position adopted book conscious human minds physical entities talking minds way talking highlevel aspects brain functioning minds bodies different separate things act one another p 138 people believe minds indeed topic open scientific theorising render anything else book say suspect modern nativists well nonnativists view mind amenable scientific theorising chomsky possible way study mind chomsky 1993 1995 hard see significant debate take place two opposite points view author committed cause popperian analysis language learning acquisition never able convert nativist way thinking gain understanding motivations adopting nativist position reconcile possibility nativism may stance intelligent person adopt author seems imagine fighting rear guard action hordes misguided nativists sees close winning hearts minds masses one important aspect book read means testing one feels linguistic nativism unfortunately sampson crusade effect making prefer nativist analysis even background information author geoffrey sampson book educating eve available http www grs unet com bibliography r austerlitz ed 1974 scope american linguistics peter de ridder press n chomsky 1993 naturalism dualism study language international journal philosophical studies 2 2 181 209 n chomsky 1995 language nature mind 104 403 1 61 curtiss 1977 genie psycholinguistic study modern day wild child academic press p fletcher b macwhinney eds 1995 handbook child language blackwell w p lehmann 1974 proto indo european syntax university texas press g sampson 1979 liberty language oup g sampson 1980 schools linguistics hutchinson j yamada 1990 laura case modularity language mit press feargal murphy lecturer department linguistics university college dublin http www ucd ie linguist gogs2 html