Lingua e Linguistica inglese 2

a.a. 2020-21

Paolo Donadio
Università di Napoli Federico II
www.docenti.unina.it/paolo.donadio
pdonadio@unina.it
Chomsky, the Cognitive program
(1-12)
“A person who speaks a language has developed a certain system
of knowledge, represented somehow in the mind and, ultimately, in
the brain in some physical configuration.
In pursuing an inquiry into these topics, then, we face a series of
questions, among them:

1. What is the system of knowledge? What is in the mind/

brain of the speaker of English or Spanish or Japanese ?
2. How does this system of knowledge arise in the mind/
brain?
3. How is this knowledge put to use in speech (or secondary
systems such as writing) ?

4. What are the physical mechanisms that serve as the material

basis for this system of knowledge and for the use of this
knowledge?” (Chomsky 2001: 3)
 Ability and knowledge
Chomsky 1988:

KNOWLEDGE is NOT ABILITY

Skills or ability to speak/write are

DIFFERENT from the system of knowledge
we own

1) The Aphasia example

2) The Bike example

 The Aphasia example
“Suppose that Juan, a speaker of Spanish,
suffers aphasia after a severe head wound,
losing all ability to speak and understand.
Has Juan lost his knowledge of Spanish?
Not necessarily, as we might discover if Juan
recovers his ability to speak and understand as
the effects of the injury recede. Of course, Juan
recovers the ability to speak and understand
Spanish, not Japanese, and does so even
without any instruction or relevant
experience with Spanish” (Chomsky 2001: 10).
 The Aphasia example, deduction
Something was retained while the ability to
speak and to understand was lost.

What was retained was a system of

knowledge, a cognitive system of the
mind/brain.

The possession of this knowledge cannot be

identified with ability to speak and understand
or with a system of dispositions, skills, or
habits.
Research in Linguistics: language faculty and
language acquisition
Language, an individual
phenomenon
 Language, a resource of human
beings
Language is a distinguishing resource of
all human beings, no matter their race.
Animals develop different forms of
communication or cognitive skills,
because that is part of their biological
endowment.
 Our research question:
“The goal of our inquiry is to determine
the nature and the properties of the
language acquired […] The answer will lie
in the properties of the language
faculty, the system (1) that converts the
data available to the child into the
language that comes to be incorporated in
the mind/brain”.
 Example: interrogatives and their rules in
Spanish
1) El hombre està en la casa

2) El hombre està contento

3) El hombre, que està contento, està en

la casa.

These are called declarative sentences

First question...

How is it possible, in
Spanish, to form
interrogative sentences
that correspond to the
declarative examples 1,
2, 3?
 First hypothesis and provisional rule
(R1)
 You need to find the first
occurrence of the verbal form
(està) and move it to the front
of the sentence, in first position
(>R1).
 Rule 1 (R1) testing

Our provisional rule (R1) to form

interrogative sentences in Spanish has
to be tested. The test is fine for the ex.
1 and 2:
1) El hombre està en la casa

1a) Està el hombre en la casa ?

2) El hombre està contento

2a) Està el hombre contento?

 Failed testing

Example n.3 shows a failed test:

3) El hombre, que està contento, està en

la casa.
*3a) Està el hombre, que contento, està
en la casa?

3b) Està el hombre, que està contento,

en la casa?
Change of hypothesis

 You need to find the LAST

occurrence of the verbal form
(està) and move it to the front
of the sentence, in first position
(>R2).
 Rule 2 (R2) testing

Example n.3 shows a fine test:

3) El hombre, que està contento, està en

la casa.

3b) Està el hombre, que està contento,

en la casa?
 Rule 2 (R2) further failed testing

3c) El hombre, que està contento, està en

la casa y habla con Miguel.

* 3d) Habla el hombre, que està

contento, està en la casa y con Miguel?
 Conclusion

… no rule that refers simply to the linear

order of words of a sentence will work.
The correct rule, of course, is the following:

FIND THE OCCURRENCE OF THE MAIN VERB

OF THE SENTENCE, THE VERB OF ITS
MAIN CLAUSE, AND PLACE IT IN THE
FRONT.

THIS RULE will be THE CORRECT R-Q (rule of

question formation).
 Comparing the rules R1 and R2

 R2 is much more complex than R1,

because it implies a computational analysis

 Spanish speakers use R2 and not R1

 Spanish speakers operate a complex

operation based on a structured order of
the sentence and not on its linear order.
Structure of the sentences

Language rules DEPEND ON

STRUCTURES.

STRUCTURE means that they are

organised according to a hierarchy of
phrases of various types.
 Sentences and their structures
1) [[El hombre] [està en la casa]]

2) [[El hombre] [està contento]]

3) [[El hombre, [que està contento],

està en la casa]].
Language faculty as a cognitive system