{"title":"Third-way linguistics: generative and usage-based theories are both right","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2024.101685","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Language research remains largely affected by the generative grammar vs usage-based rivalry. The polarization is so pervasive that one seems to have no choice but to assume that language categories are either entirely innate or fully learned. Nonetheless, it is possible to refrain from taking a side in the generative vs nongenerative debate. This paper highlights the work of authors over the last thirty years who believe that, on the one hand, input and domain-general, cognitive constraints alone are insufficient to learn and represent a language and, on the other, that the faculty of language (FL) – if it exists – must incorporate statistics, i.e., a counting device. The core idea of ‘third-way’ linguistics described in this paper is that languages can work because language users' statistical sensitivity and their innate grammar module interact. For a language to function, language users must implicitly know two things. First, by accumulating experience and memory, language users come to know <em>that</em> some forms are likely to go together in the input. Second, from a frequency-independent device (the FL) they also know in abstract (i.e., prior to input exposure) <em>why</em> those forms and not others can do so.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0388000124000743","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Language research remains largely affected by the generative grammar vs usage-based rivalry. The polarization is so pervasive that one seems to have no choice but to assume that language categories are either entirely innate or fully learned. Nonetheless, it is possible to refrain from taking a side in the generative vs nongenerative debate. This paper highlights the work of authors over the last thirty years who believe that, on the one hand, input and domain-general, cognitive constraints alone are insufficient to learn and represent a language and, on the other, that the faculty of language (FL) – if it exists – must incorporate statistics, i.e., a counting device. The core idea of ‘third-way’ linguistics described in this paper is that languages can work because language users' statistical sensitivity and their innate grammar module interact. For a language to function, language users must implicitly know two things. First, by accumulating experience and memory, language users come to know that some forms are likely to go together in the input. Second, from a frequency-independent device (the FL) they also know in abstract (i.e., prior to input exposure) why those forms and not others can do so.
期刊介绍:
Language Sciences is a forum for debate, conducted so as to be of interest to the widest possible audience, on conceptual and theoretical issues in the various branches of general linguistics. The journal is also concerned with bringing to linguists attention current thinking about language within disciplines other than linguistics itself; relevant contributions from anthropologists, philosophers, psychologists and sociologists, among others, will be warmly received. In addition, the Editor is particularly keen to encourage the submission of essays on topics in the history and philosophy of language studies, and review articles discussing the import of significant recent works on language and linguistics.