About the Authors VICTORIA FROMKIN received her bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California,Berkeley,in 1944 and her M.A.and Ph.D.in linguistics from the University of California,Los Angeles,in 1963 and 1965,respectively. She was a member of the faculty of the UCLA Department of Linguistics from 1966 until her death in 2000,and served as its chair from 1972 to 1976.From 1979 to 1989 she served as the UCLA Graduate Dean and Vice Chancellor of Graduate Programs.She was a visiting professor at the Universities of Stock- holm,Cambridge,and Oxford.Professor Fromkin served as president of the Linguistics Society of America in 1985,president of the Association of Graduate Schools in 1988,and chair of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Apha- sia.She received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and the Professional Achievement Award,and served as the U.S.Delegate and a member of the Execu- tive Committee of the International Permanent Committee of Linguistics(CIPL). She was an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,the American Association for the Advancement of Science,the New York Academy of Science,the American Psychological Society,and the Acoustical Society of America,and in 1996 was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.She published more than one hundred books,monographs,and papers on topics concerned with phonetics,phonology,tone languages,African lan- guages,speech errors,processing models,aphasia,and the brain/mind/language interface-all research areas in which she worked.Professor Fromkin passed away on January 19,2000,at the age of 76. ROBERT RODMAN received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California,Los Angeles,in 1961,a master's degree in mathemat- ics in 1965,a master's degree in linguistics in 1971,and his Ph.D.in linguistics in 1973.He has been on the faculties of the University of California at Santa Cruz,the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,Kyoto Industrial College in Japan,and North Carolina State University,where he is currently a professor of computer science.His research areas are forensic linguistics and computer speech processing.Robert resides in Raleigh,North Carolina,with his wife, Helen,Blue the Labrador,and Gracie,a rescued greyhound. NINA HYAMS received her bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston Uni- versity in 1973 and her M.A.and Ph.D.degrees in linguistics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1981 and 1983,respectively.She joined the faculty of the University of California,Los Angeles,in 1983,where she is currently a professor of linguistics.Her main areas of research are childhood language development and syntax.She is author of the book Language Acquisi- tion and the Theory of Parameters (D.Reidel Publishers,1986),a milestone in language acquisition research.She has also published numerous articles on the xix
xix VICTORIA FROMKIN received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1944 and her M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1963 and 1965, respectively. She was a member of the faculty of the UCLA Department of Linguistics from 1966 until her death in 2000, and served as its chair from 1972 to 1976. From 1979 to 1989 she served as the UCLA Graduate Dean and Vice Chancellor of Graduate Programs. She was a visiting professor at the Universities of Stockholm, Cambridge, and Oxford. Professor Fromkin served as president of the Linguistics Society of America in 1985, president of the Association of Graduate Schools in 1988, and chair of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Aphasia. She received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and the Professional Achievement Award, and served as the U.S. Delegate and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Permanent Committee of Linguistics (CIPL). She was an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Science, the American Psychological Society, and the Acoustical Society of America, and in 1996 was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. She published more than one hundred books, monographs, and papers on topics concerned with phonetics, phonology, tone languages, African languages, speech errors, processing models, aphasia, and the brain/mind/language interface—all research areas in which she worked. Professor Fromkin passed away on January 19, 2000, at the age of 76. ROBERT RODMAN received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1961, a master’s degree in mathematics in 1965, a master’s degree in linguistics in 1971, and his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1973. He has been on the faculties of the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kyoto Industrial College in Japan, and North Carolina State University, where he is currently a professor of computer science. His research areas are forensic linguistics and computer speech processing. Robert resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Helen, Blue the Labrador, and Gracie, a rescued greyhound. NINA HYAMS received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University in 1973 and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in linguistics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 1981 and 1983, respectively. She joined the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1983, where she is currently a professor of linguistics. Her main areas of research are childhood language development and syntax. She is author of the book Language Acquisition and the Theory of Parameters (D. Reidel Publishers, 1986), a milestone in language acquisition research. She has also published numerous articles on the About the Authors
XX ABOUT THE AUTHORS development of syntax,morphology,and semantics in children.She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Utrecht and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and has given numerous lectures throughout Europe and Japan. Nina lives in Los Angeles with her pal Spot,a rescued border collie mutt
xx ABOUT THE AUTHORS development of syntax, morphology, and semantics in children. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Utrecht and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and has given numerous lectures throughout Europe and Japan. Nina lives in Los Angeles with her pal Spot, a rescued border collie mutt
1 The Nature of Human Language Reflecting on Noam Chomsky's ideas on the innateness of the fundamentals of grammar in the human mind,I saw that any innate features of the language capacity must be a set of biological structures,selected in the course of the evolution of the human brain. S.E.LURIA,A Slot Machine,a Broken Test Tube,an Autobiography,1984
Reflecting on Noam Chomsky’s ideas on the innateness of the fundamentals of grammar in the human mind, I saw that any innate features of the language capacity must be a set of biological structures, selected in the course of the evolution of the human brain. S. E. LURIA, A Slot Machine, a Broken Test Tube, an Autobiography, 1984 The Nature of Human Language 1
2 PART 1 The Nature of Human Language The nervous systems of all animals have a number of basic functions in common, most notably the control of movement and the analysis of sensation.What distinguishes the human brain is the variety of more specialized activities it is capable of learning.The preeminent example is language. NORMAN GESCHWIND,1979 Linguistics shares with other sciences a concern to be objective,systematic, consistent,and explicit in its account of language.Like other sciences,it aims to collect data,test hypotheses,devise models,and construct theories.Its subject matter,however,is unique:at one extreme it overlaps with such"hard"sciences as physics and anatomy;at the other,it involves such traditional "arts"subjects as philosophy and literary criticism.The field of linguistics includes both science and the humanities,and offers a breadth of coverage that,for many aspiring students of the subject,is the primary source of its appeal. DAVID CRYSTAL,The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language,1987
The nervous systems of all animals have a number of basic functions in common, most notably the control of movement and the analysis of sensation. What distinguishes the human brain is the variety of more specialized activities it is capable of learning. The preeminent example is language. NORMAN GESCHWIND, 1979 Linguistics shares with other sciences a concern to be objective, systematic, consistent, and explicit in its account of language. Like other sciences, it aims to collect data, test hypotheses, devise models, and construct theories. Its subject matter, however, is unique: at one extreme it overlaps with such “hard” sciences as physics and anatomy; at the other, it involves such traditional “arts” subjects as philosophy and literary criticism. The field of linguistics includes both science and the humanities, and offers a breadth of coverage that, for many aspiring students of the subject, is the primary source of its appeal. DAVID CRYSTAL, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 1987 2 PART 1 The Nature of Human Language
What Is Language? When we study human language,we are approaching what some might call the"human essence,"the distinctive qualities of mind that are,so far as we know,unique to man. NOAM CHOMSKY,Language and Mind,1968 Whatever else people do when they come together-whether they play,fight, make love,or make automobiles-they talk.We live in a world of language. We talk to our friends,our associates,our wives and husbands,our lovers,our teachers,our parents,our rivals,and even our enemies.We talk to bus drivers and total strangers.We talk face-to-face and over the telephone,and everyone responds with more talk.Television and radio further swell this torrent of words. Hardly a moment of our waking lives is free from words,and even in our dreams we talk and are talked to.We also talk when there is no one to answer.Some of us talk aloud in our sleep.We talk to our pets and sometimes to ourselves. The possession of language,perhaps more than any other attribute,distin- guishes humans from other animals.To understand our humanity,one must understand the nature of language that makes us human.According to the phi- losophy expressed in the myths and religions of many peoples,language is the source of human life and power.To some people of Africa,a newborn child is a kint,a“thing,.”not yet a muntu,a“person.”Only by the act of learning lan- guage does the child become a human being.According to this tradition,we all become "human"because we all know at least one language.But what does it mean to“know”a language? Linguistic Knowledge Do we know only what we see,or do we see what we somehow already know? CYNTHIA OZICK,"What Helen Keller Saw,"New Yorker,June 16 23,2003 3
3 Whatever else people do when they come together—whether they play, fight, make love, or make automobiles—they talk. We live in a world of language. We talk to our friends, our associates, our wives and husbands, our lovers, our teachers, our parents, our rivals, and even our enemies. We talk to bus drivers and total strangers. We talk face-to-face and over the telephone, and everyone responds with more talk. Television and radio further swell this torrent of words. Hardly a moment of our waking lives is free from words, and even in our dreams we talk and are talked to. We also talk when there is no one to answer. Some of us talk aloud in our sleep. We talk to our pets and sometimes to ourselves. The possession of language, perhaps more than any other attribute, distinguishes humans from other animals. To understand our humanity, one must understand the nature of language that makes us human. According to the philosophy expressed in the myths and religions of many peoples, language is the source of human life and power. To some people of Africa, a newborn child is a kintu, a “thing,” not yet a muntu, a “person.” Only by the act of learning language does the child become a human being. According to this tradition, we all become “human” because we all know at least one language. But what does it mean to “know” a language? Linguistic Knowledge Do we know only what we see, or do we see what we somehow already know? CYNTHIA OZICK, “What Helen Keller Saw,” New Yorker, June 16 & 23, 2003 When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the “human essence,” the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man. NOAM CHOMSKY, Language and Mind, 1968 What Is Language? 1