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Macau Periodical Index (澳門期刊論文索引)
- Author
- Cao, Xuexin
- Title
- How much innate knowledge is needed to get child language learners off the ground?：Connectionist models of morphology and syntax revisited
- Journal Name
- 澳門理工學報
- Pub. Info
- Dec. 2005, 總第20期, Vol.8, No.4, pp. 151-161
- Keyword
- Connectionism；Morphology；Syntax；Formal Linguistics
- Abstract
- Abstract : This paper reviews the connectionist model of language acquisition, focusing on English grammatical morphology and the processing of embedded clauses. Insofar as the formal models of linguistic behavior have played a major role in shaping contemporary general theories of cognition, connectionist linguistics can be seen as a fundamental challenge to the traditional theories of cognition. However, we have both the promise and the problems with connectionist linguistics. The promise is extremely tantalizing in that the "neurally-inspired" computation does increase our understanding of language acquistion, particularly in light of how much innate knowledge children need to keep the ball rolling in their linguistic apprenticeship. The central problem for the connectionist paradigm is that it lacks a set of minimal theoretical apparatus to harness linguistic data in the rigorous way that formal linguistics does. This accounts for why none for the current connectionist models reviewed in this paper have been able to start off life uninitiated in the structure of language. Paragraph Headings： 1. Introduction 2. Connectionist models of morphology 2.1. The past tense debate 2.2. Later models of past tense learning 2.3. Single vs. dual mechanisms：accounting for dissociated behaviors 3. Conclusion