Christina Behme | Brandon University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Christina Behme
More than 50 years ago Noam Chomsky proposed that language acquisition is domain specific and dep... more More than 50 years ago Noam Chomsky proposed that language acquisition is domain specific and depends on innate knowledge. This article introduces computational models of language acquisition challenging this proposal. Early models (e.g., Elman, 1991) showed that mechanisms not specific to language can simulate important aspects of language acquisition. More recent models using as input samples of child-directed speech have successfully simulated the performance of language-learning children in respect to both their successes and their limitations (e.g., processing of higher order recursion). Further, many current computational models directly incorporate insights from previous ones and from experiments performed with children. The computational work shows the potential to provide a model of language learning that does not depend on domain specific mechanisms and suggests that the Chomskyan dictum needs to be re-evaluated.
Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: Multi Fandom: Supern... more Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: Multi Fandom: Supernatural Relationship: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Arthur Ketch/Original Female Character(s), Lucifer/Original Female Character(s) Character: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Original Winchester Character(s), Original Supernatural (TV) Character(s), Arthur Ketch, Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline, Lucifer (Supernatural) Additional Tags: Romance, Demons, Betrayal, Love, Broken Promises, Sex Series: Part 3 of The Way You Ketch Me Stats: Published: 2019-02-10 Updated: 2019-10-31 Chapters: 17/? Words: 120537
The Behavioral and brain sciences, 2014
I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its targ... more I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its target because the authors miss the point that genetics may specify how neurons may learn, not what they learn. Paying more attention to recent work linking mirror neurons to language acquisition and evolution would strengthen Cook et al.'s arguments against a rigid genetic hypothesis.
Philosophical Psychology, 2008
... Hymers, M. 2005. ... Several researchers have suggested that the same mechanisms that allow i... more ... Hymers, M. 2005. ... Several researchers have suggested that the same mechanisms that allow infants to segment the continuous speech stream into individual words and to access meaning can also account for the acquisition of complex syntactic structures (eg, Brent, 19997 ...
Journal of Linguistics, 2014
The Science of Language, published in the sixth decade of Noam Chomsky's linguistic career, d... more The Science of Language, published in the sixth decade of Noam Chomsky's linguistic career, defends views that are visibly out of touch with recent research in formal linguistics, developmental child psychology, computational modeling of language acquisition, and language evolution. I argue that the poor quality of this volume is representative of the serious shortcomings of Chomsky's recent scholarship, especially of his criticism of and contribution to debates about language evolution. Chomsky creates the impression that he is quoting titbits of a massive body of scientific work he has conducted or is intimately familiar with. Yet his speculations reveal a lack of even basic understanding of biology, and an unwillingness to engage seriously with the relevant literature. At the same time, he ridicules the work of virtually all other theorists, without spelling out the views he disagrees with. A critical analysis of the ‘Galilean method’ demonstrates that Chomsky uses appeal...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2013
I argue that the overly simplistic scenarios discussed by Pothos & Busemeyer (P&B) establish at b... more I argue that the overly simplistic scenarios discussed by Pothos & Busemeyer (P&B) establish at best that quantum probability theory (QPT) is a logical possibility allowing distinct predictions from classical probability theory (CPT). The article fails, however, to provide convincing evidence for the proposal that QPT offers unique insights regarding cognition and the nature of human rationality.
The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan frame... more The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan framework has remained focused exclusively on non-biological linguistics. And little, if any, work in the biological sciences has focused on the search for language specific genes or brain structures. In an attempt “to promote a stronger connection
The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan frame... more The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan framework continues to be focused exclusively on non-biological linguistics. And little, if any, work in the biological sciences concerns language-specific genes or brain structures. Seeing the need for action, psychologist Marc Hauser, “bio ” linguist
This paper is an extended version of my review of Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Juan Uriagereka, &... more This paper is an extended version of my review of Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Juan Uriagereka, & Pello Salaburu (Eds) Of minds and language: a dialogue with Noam Chomsky in the Basque Country, which will appear in the next issue of Journal of Linguistics. It contains information that had to be eliminated from the review to meet the length limit of the journal but is very relevant to evaluating the quality of the book. The Minimalist Program (Chomsky, 1995, henceforth MP), centerpiece of the biolinguistic enterprise, has created controversy virtually from the moment it was published. Hailed as the crowning achievement of decades of research on generative grammar (e.g., McGilvray, 2006; Smith, 1999; Uriagereka, 1998) it also has been severely criticized. Some of the criticism went beyond challenging details of MP and questioned its very foundations and scientific justification
It has been widely assumed that all languages share some structural features; language universals... more It has been widely assumed that all languages share some structural features; language universals. Evans and Levinson (2009) challenge this assumption and provide a wealth of empirical evidence supporting their claim that linguistic diversity is the most remarkable characteristic of human languages. The response to their paper reveals fundamental disagreements, indicating that different authors rely on substantially different definitions of key terms such as ‘language’ and ‘language universal’. In this paper I will not take sides but discuss the implications of these different definitions on the debate and suggest that conceptual precision is essential for the success of the discipline-crossing collaboration that is needed in language evolution research. Insights gained from other debates in evolutionary theorizing should inform language evolution debates.
Electronic Green Journal, 2006
Journal of Linguistics, 2013
Ray Jackendoff (2007) claims that most work on consciousness deals " almost exclusively with... more Ray Jackendoff (2007) claims that most work on consciousness deals " almost exclusively with visual experience " and suggests to focus more on linguistic awareness. Jackendoff proposes that phonological ability – to divide utterances into words and syllables – is at the core of linguistic consciousness. This account can be supplemented by empirical research on language acquisition. Focusing on the step-by-step emergence of linguistic consciousness in infancy can offer new and potentially fruitful angles for investigating states of consciousness. In addition computational models of word segmentation and possible implications for linguistic consciousness are discussed.
vi Acknowledgements vii Chapter
Studies in Language Companion Series, 2018
Electronic Green Journal, 2006
More than 50 years ago Noam Chomsky proposed that language acquisition is domain specific and dep... more More than 50 years ago Noam Chomsky proposed that language acquisition is domain specific and depends on innate knowledge. This article introduces computational models of language acquisition challenging this proposal. Early models (e.g., Elman, 1991) showed that mechanisms not specific to language can simulate important aspects of language acquisition. More recent models using as input samples of child-directed speech have successfully simulated the performance of language-learning children in respect to both their successes and their limitations (e.g., processing of higher order recursion). Further, many current computational models directly incorporate insights from previous ones and from experiments performed with children. The computational work shows the potential to provide a model of language learning that does not depend on domain specific mechanisms and suggests that the Chomskyan dictum needs to be re-evaluated.
Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: Multi Fandom: Supern... more Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: Multi Fandom: Supernatural Relationship: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Arthur Ketch/Original Female Character(s), Lucifer/Original Female Character(s) Character: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Original Winchester Character(s), Original Supernatural (TV) Character(s), Arthur Ketch, Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline, Lucifer (Supernatural) Additional Tags: Romance, Demons, Betrayal, Love, Broken Promises, Sex Series: Part 3 of The Way You Ketch Me Stats: Published: 2019-02-10 Updated: 2019-10-31 Chapters: 17/? Words: 120537
The Behavioral and brain sciences, 2014
I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its targ... more I argue that Cook et al.'s attack of the genetic hypothesis of mirror neurons misses its target because the authors miss the point that genetics may specify how neurons may learn, not what they learn. Paying more attention to recent work linking mirror neurons to language acquisition and evolution would strengthen Cook et al.'s arguments against a rigid genetic hypothesis.
Philosophical Psychology, 2008
... Hymers, M. 2005. ... Several researchers have suggested that the same mechanisms that allow i... more ... Hymers, M. 2005. ... Several researchers have suggested that the same mechanisms that allow infants to segment the continuous speech stream into individual words and to access meaning can also account for the acquisition of complex syntactic structures (eg, Brent, 19997 ...
Journal of Linguistics, 2014
The Science of Language, published in the sixth decade of Noam Chomsky's linguistic career, d... more The Science of Language, published in the sixth decade of Noam Chomsky's linguistic career, defends views that are visibly out of touch with recent research in formal linguistics, developmental child psychology, computational modeling of language acquisition, and language evolution. I argue that the poor quality of this volume is representative of the serious shortcomings of Chomsky's recent scholarship, especially of his criticism of and contribution to debates about language evolution. Chomsky creates the impression that he is quoting titbits of a massive body of scientific work he has conducted or is intimately familiar with. Yet his speculations reveal a lack of even basic understanding of biology, and an unwillingness to engage seriously with the relevant literature. At the same time, he ridicules the work of virtually all other theorists, without spelling out the views he disagrees with. A critical analysis of the ‘Galilean method’ demonstrates that Chomsky uses appeal...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2013
I argue that the overly simplistic scenarios discussed by Pothos & Busemeyer (P&B) establish at b... more I argue that the overly simplistic scenarios discussed by Pothos & Busemeyer (P&B) establish at best that quantum probability theory (QPT) is a logical possibility allowing distinct predictions from classical probability theory (CPT). The article fails, however, to provide convincing evidence for the proposal that QPT offers unique insights regarding cognition and the nature of human rationality.
The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan frame... more The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan framework has remained focused exclusively on non-biological linguistics. And little, if any, work in the biological sciences has focused on the search for language specific genes or brain structures. In an attempt “to promote a stronger connection
The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan frame... more The term biolinguistics was coined decades ago, yet, much of the work done in the Chomskyan framework continues to be focused exclusively on non-biological linguistics. And little, if any, work in the biological sciences concerns language-specific genes or brain structures. Seeing the need for action, psychologist Marc Hauser, “bio ” linguist
This paper is an extended version of my review of Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Juan Uriagereka, &... more This paper is an extended version of my review of Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Juan Uriagereka, & Pello Salaburu (Eds) Of minds and language: a dialogue with Noam Chomsky in the Basque Country, which will appear in the next issue of Journal of Linguistics. It contains information that had to be eliminated from the review to meet the length limit of the journal but is very relevant to evaluating the quality of the book. The Minimalist Program (Chomsky, 1995, henceforth MP), centerpiece of the biolinguistic enterprise, has created controversy virtually from the moment it was published. Hailed as the crowning achievement of decades of research on generative grammar (e.g., McGilvray, 2006; Smith, 1999; Uriagereka, 1998) it also has been severely criticized. Some of the criticism went beyond challenging details of MP and questioned its very foundations and scientific justification
It has been widely assumed that all languages share some structural features; language universals... more It has been widely assumed that all languages share some structural features; language universals. Evans and Levinson (2009) challenge this assumption and provide a wealth of empirical evidence supporting their claim that linguistic diversity is the most remarkable characteristic of human languages. The response to their paper reveals fundamental disagreements, indicating that different authors rely on substantially different definitions of key terms such as ‘language’ and ‘language universal’. In this paper I will not take sides but discuss the implications of these different definitions on the debate and suggest that conceptual precision is essential for the success of the discipline-crossing collaboration that is needed in language evolution research. Insights gained from other debates in evolutionary theorizing should inform language evolution debates.
Electronic Green Journal, 2006
Journal of Linguistics, 2013
Ray Jackendoff (2007) claims that most work on consciousness deals " almost exclusively with... more Ray Jackendoff (2007) claims that most work on consciousness deals " almost exclusively with visual experience " and suggests to focus more on linguistic awareness. Jackendoff proposes that phonological ability – to divide utterances into words and syllables – is at the core of linguistic consciousness. This account can be supplemented by empirical research on language acquisition. Focusing on the step-by-step emergence of linguistic consciousness in infancy can offer new and potentially fruitful angles for investigating states of consciousness. In addition computational models of word segmentation and possible implications for linguistic consciousness are discussed.
vi Acknowledgements vii Chapter
Studies in Language Companion Series, 2018
Electronic Green Journal, 2006