Handbook of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics (41))

Modern linguistic theory has been based on the promise of explaining how language acquisition can occur so rapidly with such subtlety, and with both surprising uniformity and diversity across languages. This handbook provides a summary and assessment of how far that promise has been fulfilled, exploring core concepts in acquisition theory, including notions of the initial state, parameters, triggering theory, the role of competition and frequency, and many others, across a variety of syntactic topics that have formed the central domains of investigation and debate. These topics are treated from the unique perspective of central actors in each domain who have helped shape the research agenda. The authors have presented a summary of the data, the theories under discussion, and their own best assessments of where each domain stands. Providing as well the agenda for future work in the field showing both particular needs and general directions that should be pursued in the coming decades. Front Matter....Pages i-vii Introduction....Pages 1-12 Missing Subjects in Early Child Language....Pages 13-52 Grammatical Computation in the Optional Infinitive Stage....Pages 53-118 Computational Models of Language Acquisition....Pages 119-154 The Acquisition of the Passive....Pages 155-187 The Acquisition Path for Wh-Questions....Pages 189-246 Binding and Coreference: Views from Child Language....Pages 247-290 Universal Grammar and the Acquisition of Japanese Syntax....Pages 291-317 Studying Language Acquisition Through the Prism of Isomorphism....Pages 319-349 Acquiring Knowledge of Universal Quantification....Pages 351-394 Back Matter....Pages 395-403 The apparently contradictory issues of poverty reduction and sustainable development can be jointly addressed. This book shows how ecological science and tools can be applied to address major development challenges associated with rural poverty.