Generativism
What is the role of "context" -- i.e., the context in which an utterance is said -- in generative grammar?
Context is generally not important in generative theories.
(While generativists might play around with context to see whether a certain utterance can be grammatical or not, the context usually won't play a major role in their analyses.)
What is the role of "context" -- i.e. the context in which an utterance is said -- in functionalism?
Context in functionalism is crucial in functionalism. Functionalism looks at the relation between form and function in language, and context can help us understand what the purpose of language is in a given situation (i.e. its "function").
Give an example of a hybrid grammatical category. Is this type of category more likely to be considered valid in usage-based or generativist approaches?
Example:
have has properties of both auxiliary verb and lexical verb:
1. I have a pen.
2. I have eaten a pen.
The existence of hybrid categories, such as the one have might belong to, is more likely to be taken seriously in usage-based approaches.
Consider the following statement: "All of the 100 swans I have seen are white. Therefore, all swans are white." This is an example of what type of reasoning?
Inductive.
What does the term "generative" refer to? Use an example to support your answer.
"Generative" refers to the notion that syntactic rules are applied to lexical items (words) to generate sentences.
For instance, if a rule says a noun phrase can take an adjective, as in NP -> (ADJ) N, then we can generate noun phrases like "delicious food", "hot weather", etc.
Explain the notion of "innateness of language" and its relation to functionalism or usage-based theory.
Functionalists generally don't believe language is innate as such. Rather, they believe other cognitive processes, such as pattern recognition, play the biggest role in language learning.
What is considered to be the primary function of language in functionalism.
Communication
Order the following traditions/events chronologically, oldest to most recent:
1. Neo-grammarian manifesto
2. Hindu linguistic tradition
3. Hebrew linguistic tradition
4. Publication of Saussure's Cours de linguistique
Oldest to newest: 2, 3, 1, 4
Examples:
1. Our brains come hardwired with a "language faculty" -- i.e. a module which is dedicated specifically to learning and using language
2. Language change occurs because of imperfect learning by children.
Give two postulates (i.e basic assumptions) of functionalism which are rejected by generativism.
1. The fundamental purpose of language is for communication.
2. The form of language is influenced by its function (i.e., semantics and pragmatics can influence syntax and morphology).
Explain the "predication" use of language. How do generativism and functionalism differ in their view on this use of language?
Predication -- creation of a statement about an action or state of affairs (e.g. "The dog ate my homework").
In generativism, this is the fundamental type of utterance. In functionalism, this is just one type of utterance and is not privileged over, e.g., questions or requests.
A (hypothetical) study found that younger people in Kazakhstan code-switch more frequently than older people. In this study, what is the dependent variable? What is the independent variable.
Dependent = frequency of code-switching
Independent = age
Explain the notion of innateness as it relates to generativism. Explain also the connection between innateness and Universal Grammar.
Generativists believe that language is "innate" in the human mind. This innateness is conceptualized as Universal Grammar, which is the "blueprint" for language in the mind.
Explain the notion of "emergent grammar" and how it relates to usage-based theory.
Emergent = grammar emerges from language usage
Usage-based theory postulates that grammatical structure such as the classification of words into nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc., comes about due to repeated usage and also changes due to nuances in usage.
What is considered to be the primary function of language in generativism?
Give an example of deductive reasoning. It can be a real or fictitious example.
Example:
Premise 1: All linguistics professors are mean.
Premise 2: Clinton is a linguistics professor.
Conclusion: Clinton is mean.
Explain what is meant by "poverty of the stimulus" and how it is modeled in generativism.
We don't have enough input (stimulus) to learn language to the extent we do. This is modeled, for instance, through the notion of "parameters" which are innate in our brains and which can be switched on or off. For instance, if I'm learning Kazakh as a child, I'll switch on the "verb-final" parameter.
Explain the notion of "domain-general" as it relates to cognitive processes. What is an example of a domain-general process and how might a functionalist say it is used in language-learning?
Domain-general = used in multiple domains/contexts for multiple purposes
Example = categorization, which can be used in language to classify words into parts of speech
Explain how the notion of "categorization" might be said to apply in generativism.
Language comes with hard-wired syntactic categories -- noun, adjective, verb, etc. -- and speakers simply fill in these categories with specific words as they go about their learning.
Explain the notion of triangulation in the context of research. Give an example.
Triangulation is the use of differing methods, theories, or researchers to study a problem. These different approaches "triangulate" and allow for different perspectives on an issue.
Example: studying code-switching from a both a corpus-based and generative perspective.