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| Author(s): |
Pablo Faria
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem |
| Defense date: | 2013-11-19 |
| Examining board members: |
Ruth Elisabeth Vasconcellos Lopes;
Marcelo Barra Ferreira;
Sérgio de Moura Menuzzi;
Edson Françozo;
Leticia Maria Sicuro Correa
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| Advisor: | Charlotte Galves; Ruth Elisabeth Vasconcellos Lopes |
| Abstract | |
In the present work, the acquisition of natural languages is investigated through a computer simulation. The modelled learner - dubbed IASMIM - is characterized as an integrated computational model of first language acquisition, in the sense that it integrates the processes of lexical and syntactic acquisition. Furthermore, the model was conceived in order to be empirically and psychologically plausible. The theoretical perspective of this enterprise is that of Generative Grammar (cf. Chomsky, 1986) and this is a model concerned with linguistic competence, rather than language processing or performance (i.e., how the acquired knowledge is put to use). The modelled learner is capable of acquiring a relatively broad grammatical knowledge and shows some crosslinguistic abilities, in particular, the ability to handle languages with distinct word orders. In the simulations for evaluation of the model we can observe the emergence of adjunction and recursive patterns in the grammar, taken here as the main pieces of evidence of a more elaborated syntactic knowledge. Finally, the model embodies some central notions for syntactic theory under the Minimalist Program (cf. Chomsky, 1995b), such as set-Merge, pair-Merge and "selector feature" (cf. Chomsky, 1998), together with the assumptions that syntactic representations are strictly binary branching and that linear word order has no significant role in syntactic phenomena (cf. Uriagereka, 1999). The model also embodies a version of the semantic-conceptual representation proposed in Jackendoff (1990). They take a concrete and integrated existence in this model, interacting with one another to determine the properties of the acquired grammatical knowledge (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 09/17172-3 - Computational investigations of language acquisition: developing a model |
| Grantee: | Pablo Picasso Feliciano de Faria |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |