The Nature of Language

THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE KARINA WAHYU
NINGDHIAS
STRUCTURE-DEPENDENT OPERATIONS
Language makes use of structure-dependent operations.
-Chomsky
By this he means that the composition and production of utterances is

not merely a question of stringing together sequences of words. Every
sentence has an inaudible internal structure which must be understood
by the hearer.
THE MARTIAN ARE TRYING TO LEARN
ENGLISH
AUNT JEMIMA HAS DROPPED HER FALSE TEETH DOWN THE DRAIN
as well as the related question:
HAS AUNT JEMIMA DROPPED HER FALSE TEETH DOWN THE DRAIN?
The Martian guesses:
In order to form a question, scan the sentence for the word has and bring it to
the front. (Structure-Independent)
Is it work in other sentences?

THE MAN WHO HAS RUN AWAY SHOUTING WAS ATTACKED BY A WASP
Into:
*HAS THE MAN WHO RUN AWAY SHOUTING WAS ATTACKED BY A WASP?
The Martian went wrong in her guesses because she was
trying out structure-independent operations manoeuvres
which relied solely on mechanical counting or simple
recognition procedures without looking at the internal
structure of the sentences concerned.
Humans may have an innate knowledge of this phenomenon:
Given such facts, it is natural to postulate that the idea of
structure-dependent operations is part of the innate schematism
applied by the mind to the data of experience.
(Chomsky 1972b: 30)
This knowledge is part of the childs biological endowment, part of the
structure of the language faculty (Chomsky 1988: 45).
CREATIVITY
Creativity is another fundamental aspect of language
-Chomsky
1. Humans have the ability to understand and produce novel utterances. Even
quite strange sentences, which are unlikely to have been uttered before,
cause no problems for speakers and hearers:
THE ELEPHANT DRANK SEVENTEEN BOTTLES OF SHAMPOO, THEN SKIPPED
DRUNKENLY ROUND THE ROOM.
THE AARDVARK CLEANED ITS TEETH WITH A PURPLE TOOTHBRUSH.
Anyone who has mastered a language is automatically able to discard deviant

utterances which they may never have met before.
2. Utterances are not controlled by external happenings.
Example:
The appearance of a daffodil does not force humans to shriek
Daffodil. They can say whatever they like:
What a lovely colour
Its spring, I must remember to clean my car
Why do flowers always give me hay fever?
Chomsky stressed that the creative aspect of language is
normal.
Humans produce novel utterances all the time, and
anybody who does not is likely to be brain damaged.
THE GREAT AUTOMATIC GRAMMATIZATOR
It becomes clear that there is much more to language than merely
stringing together words. In order to speak, a human possesses a
highly complex internalized set of instructions or rules which enables
him or her to utter any of the permissible sequences of English
though they are unlikely to have any conscious knowledge of these
rules.
As already noted, in real life no linguist, no computer expert has yet
managed to build an automatic grammatizator a device which will
account for all and only the permissible sequences of English. But
children can construct automatic grammatizators for themselves. How?
HOW?
Possibility 1 Human infants know in advance what languages are like.
This is the possibility preferred by Chomsky:
Given the richness and complexity of the system of grammar for a
human language and the uniformity of its acquisition on the basis of
limited and often degenerate evidence, there can be little doubt that
highly restrictive universal principles must exist determining the
general framework of each human language and perhaps much of its
specific structure as well.
(Chomsky 1980: 232)
HOW?
Possibility 2 No special advance knowledge is needed, because
children are highly efficient puzzle-solvers in all areas of human
behaviour. Language is just one type of puzzle which their high level
of general intelligence enables them to solve fast and well.
In the words of the linguist Geoffrey Sampson:
Individual humans inherit no knowledge of language . . . They
succeed in mastering the language spoken in their environment only by
applying the same general intelligence which they use to grapple with
all the other diverse and unpredictable problems that come their way.
(Sampson 1980: 178)
It may not be necessary to choose between these possibilities. As this
book will suggest, the answer may well lie somewhere between these
two extremes. In this controversy, it is important to keep an open mind,
and not be swayed by the fashion of the moment.
Chomskys claim that children are pre-programmed to speak requires
serious attention. Chomskys belief that humans are genetically
imprinted with knowledge about language is often referred to as the
innateness hypothesis. He merely claims that a blueprint is there,
which is brought into use when the child reaches a certain point in her
general development.

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What is Chomsky's view on how language acquisition works?

What are the two possibilities Chomsky discusses for how children learn language?

THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE KARINA WAHYU

By this he means that the composition and production of utterances is

Is it work in other sentences?

Anyone who has mastered a language is automatically able to discard deviant

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