The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (74 page)

BOOK: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
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7.
Talking Heads

 

Artificial Intelligence: Winston, 1992; Wallich, 1991;
The Economist
, 1992.

Turing Test of whether machines can think: Turing, 1950.

ELIZA:
Weizenbaum, 1976.

Loebner Prize competition: Shieber, in press.

Fast comprehension: Garrett, 1990; Marslen-Wilson, 1975.

Style: Williams, 1990.

Parsing: Smith, 1991; Ford, Bresnan, & Kaplan, 1982; Wanner & Maratsos, 1978; Yngve, 1960; Kaplan, 1972; Berwick et al., 1991; Wanner, 1988; Joshi, 1991; Gibson, in press.

Magical number seven: Miller, 1956.

Dangling sentences: Yngve, 1960; Bever, 1970; Williams, 1990.

Memory and grammatical load: Bever, 1970; Kuno, 1974; Hawkins, 1988.

Right-, left-, and center-embedding: Yngve, 1960; Miller & Chomsky, 1963; Miller, 1967; Kuno, 1974; Chomsky, 1965.

Number of rules for child to learn: Pinker, 1984.

Breadth-first dictionary lookup: Swinney, 1979; Seidenberg et al., 1982.

Killer sentenced to die twice: Columbia Journalism Review, 1980; Lederer, 1987.

Garden path sentences: Bever, 1970; Ford, Bresnan, & Kaplan, 1982; Wanner, 1988; Gibson, in press.

Multiple trees in memory: MacDonald, Just, and Carpenter, 1992; Gibson, in press.

Modularity of mind: Fodor, 1983. Modularity debate: Fodor, 1985; Garfield, 1987; Marslen-Wilson, 1989.

General smarts and understanding sentences: Trueswell, Tanenhaus, and Garnsey, in press.

Verbs help parsing, pro and con: Trueswell, Tanenhaus, & Kello, in press; Ford et al., 1982; Frazier, 1989; Ferreira & Henderson, 1990.

Computer parsers: Joshi, 1991.

Late closure and minimal attachment, pro and con: Frazier & Fodor, 1978; Ford et al., 1982; Wanner, 1988; Garfield, 1987.

The language of judges: Solan, 1993. Language and law: Tiersma, 1993.

Fillers and gaps: Wanner & Maratsos, 1978; Bever & McElree, 1988; MacDonald, 1989; Nicol & Swinney, 1989; Garnsey, Tanenhaus, & Chapman, 1989; Kluender & Kutas, 1993; J. D. Fodor, 1989.

Shortening filler-gap distances: Bever, 1970; Yngve, 1960; Williams, 1990. Bounding phrase movement to help parsing: Berwick & Weinberg, 1984.

Watergate transcripts: Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, 1974;
New York Times
Staff, 1974.

Masson
v.
The New Yorker Magazine: Time
, July 1, 1991, p. 68;
Newsweek
, July 1, 1991, p. 67.

Discourse, pragmatics, and inference: Grice, 1975; Levinson, 1983; Sperber & Wilson, 1986; Leech, 1983; Clark & Clark, 1977.

Scripts and stereotypes: Schanck & Riesbeck, 1981. Programming common sense: Freedman, 1990; Wallich, 1991; Lenat & Guha, 1990.

Logic of conversation: Grice, 1975; Sperber & Wilson, 1986.

Letter of recommendation: Grice, 1975; Norman & Rumelhart, 1975.

Politeness: Brown & Levinson, 1987.

Conduit metaphor: Lakoff & Johnson, 1980.

8.
The Tower of Babel

 

Variation without limit: Joos, 1957, p. 96. One Earthly language: Chomsky, 1991.

Language differences: Crystal, 1987; Comrie, 1990; Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University.

Language universals: Greenberg, 1963; Greenberg, Ferguson, & Moravscik, 1978; Comrie, 1981; Hawkins, 1988; Shopen, 1985; Keenan, 1976; Bybee, 1985.

History versus typology: Kiparsky, 1976; Wang, 1976; Aronoff, 1987.

SOV, SVO, and center-embedding: Kuno, 1974.

Crosslinguistic meaning of “subject”: Keenan, 1976; Pinker, 1984, 1987.

Human versus animal communication: Hockett, 1960.

Evolution disfavoring change for change’s sake: Williams, 1966.

Babel speeds evolution: Dyson, 1979; Babel provides women: Crystal, 1987, p. 42.

Languages and species: Darwin, 1874, p. 106.

Evolution of innateness and learning: Williams, 1966; Lewontin, 1966; Hinton & Nowlan, 1987.

Why there is language learning: Pinker & Bloom, 1990.

Linguistic innovation as contagious disease: Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman, 1981.

Reanalysis and language change: Aitchison, 1991; Samuels, 1972; Kiparsky, 1976; Pyles & Algeo, 1982; Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University, 1991.

American English: Cassidy, 1985; Bryson, 1990.

History of English: Jespersen, 1938/1982; Pyles & Algeo, 1982; Aitchison, 1991; Samuels, 1972; Bryson, 1990; Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University, 1991.

Apprehending adolescents and catching kids: Williams, 1991.

The Great Vowel Shift as dudespeak: Burling, 1992.

Germanic and Indo-European: Pyles & Algeo, 1982; Renfrew, 1987; Crystal, 1987.

First European farmers: Renfrew, 1987; Ammerman & Cavalli-Sforza, 1984; Sokal, Oden, & Wilson, 1991; Roberts, 1992.

Language families: Comrie, 1990; Crystal, 1987; Ruhlen, 1987; Katzner, 1977.

Language of the Americas: Greenberg, 1987; Cavalli-Sforza et al., 1988; Diamond, 1990.

Language lumpers: Wright, 1991; Ross, 1991; Shevoroshkin & Markey, 1986.

Correlations between genes and language families: Cavalli-Sforza et al., 1988; Cavalli-Sforza, 1991. African Eve: Stringer & Andrews, 1988; Stringer, 1990; Gibbons, 1993.

Genes and languages in Europe: Harding & Sokal, 1988. Lack of correlation between language families and genetic groups: Guy, 1992.

Proto-World: Shevoroshkin, 1990; Wright, 1991; Ross, 1991.

Language extinctions: Hale et al., 1992.

Another perspective on language extinctions: Ladefoged, 1992.

9.
Baby Born Talking—Describes Heaven

 

Infant speech perception: Eimas et al., 1971; Werker, 1991.

Learning French in utero: Mehler et al., 1988.

Infants learn phonemes: Kuhl et al., 1992.

Babbling: Locke, 1992; Petitto & Marentette, 1991.

Babbling robots: Jordon & Rosenbaum, 1989.

First words: Clark, 1993; Ingram, 1989.

Finding word boundaries: Peters, 1983. Children’s examples are from Peters, family memories,
Life
magazine, and MIT librarian Pat Claffey. The
Hill Street Blues
example is from Mark Aronoff.

First word combinations: Braine, 1976; Brown, 1973; Pinker, 1984; Ingram, 1989.

Infant comprehension: Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 1991.

Speech bottleneck in children: Brown, 1973, p. 205.

Language blasts off: Ingram, 1989, p. 235; Brown, 1973; Limber, 1973; Pinker, 1984; Bickerton, 1992.

Adam and Eve: Brown, 1973; MacWhinney, 1991.

Children avoid tempting errors: Stromswold, 1990.

Language acquisition across the globe: Slobin, 1985, 1992.

Alligator goed kerplunk: Marcus, Pinker, Ullman, Hollander, Rosen, & Xu, 1992.

Don’t giggle me: Bowerman, 1982; Pinker, 1989.

Wild children: Tartter, 1986; Curtiss, 1989; Rymer, 1993.

Thurber & White: from “Is Sex Necessary?” Example from Donald Symons.

Language from television: Ervin-Tripp, 1973. Understanding Motherese from content words: Slobin, 1977. Children as mind-readers: Pinker, 1979, 1984.

Motherese: Newport, et al., 1977; Fernald, 1992.

Mute child: Stromswold, 1994.

No parental feedback: Brown & Hanlon, 1970; Braine, 1971; Morgan & Travis, 1989; Marcus, 1993.

Learning language without feedback: Pinker, 1979, 1984, 1989; Wexler & Culicover, 1980; Osherson, Stob, & Weinstein, 1985; Berwick, 1985; Marcus et al., 1992.

Language acquisition close up: Pinker, 1979, 1984; Wexler & Culicover, 1980.

Human versus other primate gestation periods: Corballis, 1991.

Brain growth & language development: Bates, Thal, & Janowsky, 1992; Locke, 1992; Huttenlocher, 1990.

Children’s language in evolution: Williams, 1966.

Linguistic development and motor development: Lenneberg, 1967.

Foreign language learning: Hakuta, 1986; Grosjean, 1982; Bley-Vroman, 1990; Birdsong, 1989.

Critical ages for second language acquisition: Lieberman, 1984; Bley-Vroman, 1990; Newport, 1990; Long, 1990.

Critical periods for first language acquisition: Deaf: Newport, 1990. Genie: Curtiss, 1989; Rymer, 1992. Isabelle: Tartter, 1986. Chelsea: Curtiss, 1989.

Recovery from brain injury: Curtiss, 1989; Lenneberg, 1967.

Biology of the life cycle: Williams, 1966.

Evolution of the critical period: Hurford, 1991.

Senescence: Williams, 1957; Medawar, 1957.

10.
Language Organs and Grammar Genes

 

Associated Press story: February 11, 1992. Kilpatrick: Universal Press Syndicate, February 28, 1992. Bombeck: March 5, 1992.

Broca: Caplan, 1987. Language on the left: Caplan, 1987, 1992; Corballis, 1991; Geschwind, 1979; Geschwind & Galaburda, 1987; Gazzaniga, 1983.

Left-hemisphere language and the Psalms: example from Michael Corballis.

Language affects scalp electrodes: Neville et al., 1991; Kluender & Kutas, 1993.

Language lights up brains: Wallesch et al., 1985; Peterson et al., 1988, 1990; Mazoyer et al., 1992; Zatorre et al., 1992; Poeppel, 1993.

Language, not language-like stimuli and responses, in the left: Gardner, 1974; Etcoff, 1986. Sign language in the left, gesturing the right: Poizner, Klima, & Bellugi, 1990; Corina, Vaid, & Bellugi, 1992.

Bilateral symmetry: Corballis, 1991. Symmetry is sexy: Cronin, 1992.

Twisted chordates: Kinsbourne, 1978. Snail anatomy: Buchsbaum, 1948.

Lopsided animals: Corballis, 1991.

Lopsided brains: Corballis, 1991; Kosslyn, 1987; Gazzaniga, 1978, 1989.

Southpaws: Corballis, 1991; Coren, 1992. Parsing by relatives of southpaws: Bever et al., 1989.

Perisylvian cortex as the language organ: Caplan, 1987; Gazzaniga, 1989.

Peter Hogan’s aphasia: Goodglass, 1973.

Broca’s aphasia: Caplan, 1987, 1992; Gardner, 1974; Zurif, 1989.

ERP and PET pick up language in left anterior perisylvian: Kluender & Kutas, 1993; Neville et al., 1991; Mazoyer et al., 1992; Wallesch et al., 1985; Stromswold, Caplan, & Alpert, 1993.

Anatomy of Broca’s aphasia: Caplan, 1987; Dronkers et al., 1992. Parkinson’s and language: Lieberman et al., 1992. Broca’s aphasics detect ungrammaticality: Linebarger, Schwartz, & Saffran, 1983; Cornell, Fromkin, & Mauner, 1993.

Wernicke’s aphasic: Gardner, 1974.

Wernicke’s and related aphasias: Gardner, 1974; Geschwind, 1979; Caplan, 1987, 1992.

Anomia: Gardner, 1974; Caplan, 1987. The man with no nouns: Baynes & Iven, 1991.

Words and EEG’s: Neville et al., 1991. Words and PET: Peterson et al., 1990; Poeppel, 1993.

Different aphasias in different people: Caplan, 1987, 1992; Miceli et al., 1989. Losing derivational morphology while keeping inflectional morphology: Miceli & Caramazza, 1988.

Banananomia: Warrington & McCarthy, 1987; Hillis & Caramazza, 1991; Hart, Berndt, & Caramazza, 1985; Farah, 1990.

Anomalies and variation in language localization: Caplan, 1987; Basso et al., 1985; Bates, Thal, & Janowsky, 1992.

Visual areas: Hubel, 1988. Neuroscience: Gazzaniga, 1992; see also the special issue of
Scientific American
on “Mind and Brain,” September 1992.

Stimulation of circumscribed but variable language spots: Ojemann & Whitaker, 1978; Ojemann, 1991.

Words as hubs: Damasio and Damasio, 1992.

Moving language around in baby brains: Curtiss, 1989; Caplan, 1987; Bates, Thal, & Janowsky, 1992; Basso et al., 1985.

Functional MRI: Belliveau et al., 1991; MEG: Gallen, 1994.

Computing in neural networks: McCulloch & Pitts, 1943; Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986.

Computing language in neural networks: McClelland & Rumelhart, 1986; Pinker & Prince, 1988; Pinker & Mehler, 1988.

Neural development: Rakic, 1988; Shatz, 1992; Dodd & Jessell, 1988; von der Malsburg & Singer, 1988.

Transgenic pig: Brian Duffy, North America Syndicate.

Genetics of stuttering and dyslexia: Ludlow & Cooper, 1983. Genetics of SLI: Gopnik & Crago, 1991; Gopnik, 1993; Stromswold, 1994. Pronunciation errors in twins: Locke & Mather, 1989. Grammar in twins: Mather & Black, 1984; Munsinger & Douglas, 1976; Fahey, Kamitomo, & Cornell, 1978; Bishop, North, & Donlan, 1993; Adopted babies’ language development: Hardy-Brown, Plomin, & DeFries, 1981.

Three generations of SLI: Gopnik, 1990a, 1990b, 1993; Gopnik & Crago, 1991.

Universal human nature and individual uniqueness: Tooby & Cosmides, 1990a.

Separated at birth: Holden, 1987; Lykken et al., 1992.

Behavior genetics: Bouchard et al., 1990; Lykken et al., 1992; Plomin, 1990.

Bushspeak: The Editors of
The New Republic
, 1992. Quaylespeak: Goldsman, 1992.

Linguistic geniuses: Yogi Berra, from Safire, 1991; Lederer, 1987. Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), from
On Beyond Zebra
, 1955. Nabokov, from
Lolita
, 1958. King, from the march on Washington, 1963. Shakespeare, from
Hamlet
, Act 2, Scene 2.

11.
The Big Bang

 

Elephants: Williams, 1989; Carrington, 1958.

Darwinian explanations of the language instinct: Pinker & Bloom, 1990; Pinker, in press; Hurford, 1989, 1991; Newmeyer, 1991; Brandon & Hornstein, 1986; Corballis, 1991.

Animal communication: Wilson, 1972; Gould and Marler, 1987.

Nonlinguistic communication and the brain: Deacon, 1988, 1989; Caplan, 1987; Myers, 1976; Robinson, 1976.

Gua and Viki: Tartter, 1986.

Sarah: Premack & Premack, 1972; Premack, 1985. Kanzi: Savage-Rumbaugh, 1991; Greenfield & Savage-Rumbaugh, 1991. Washoe: Gardner & Gardner, 1969, 1974. Koko: Patterson, 1978. See Wallman, 1992, for a review.

Nice guys in the animal kingdom: Sagan & Druyan, 1992. Quotation from excerpt in
Parade
magazine, September 20, 1992.

Nim: Terrace, 1979; Terrace et al., 1979. Ape language debunkers: Terrace et al., 1979; Seidenberg & Petitto, 1979; Petitto & Seidenberg, 1979; Seidenberg, 1986; Seidenberg & Petitto, 1987; Petitto, 1988; see Wallman, 1992, for a review. Threatened lawsuit: Wallman, 1992, p. 5.

Deaf signer observing chimps: Neisser, 1983, pp. 214–216.

The misbehavior of organisms: Breland & Breland, 1961.

Bates on Big Bangs: Bates, Thal, & Marchman, 1991, pp. 30, 35.

Chains, ladders, and bushes in evolution: Mayr, 1982; Dawkins, 1986; Gould, 1985.

Featherless biped: example from Wallman, 1992.

Logical impossibility of the liver: Lieberman, 1990, pp. 741–742.

New modules in evolution: Mayr, 1982.

Broca’s area in monkeys: Deacon, 1988, 1989; Galaburda & Pandya, 1982.

Chimp and human DNA: King & Wilson, 1975; Miyamoto, Slightom, & Goodman, 1987.

Bow-wow, ding-dong, gestural, and other theories of transitional language: Harnad, Steklis, & Lancaster, 1976.

Dating language origins: Pinker, 1992, in press; Bickerton, 1990. Evolution of modern humans: Stringer & Andrews, 1988; Stringer, 1990; Gibbons, 1993.

Descent of larynx and Neanderthal speech: Lieberman, 1984. Neanderthal fans: Gibbons, 1992. Heimlich maneuver:
Parade
, June 28, 1992.

Chomsky denigrates natural selection: Chomsky, 1972, pp. 97–98; Chomsky, 1988, p. 167.

Logic of natural selection: Darwin, 1859/1964; Williams, 1966, 1992; Mayr, 1983; Dawkins, 1986; Tooby & Cosmides, 1990b; Maynard Smith, 1984, 1986; Dennett, 1983.

Just-so stories: Gould & Lewontin, 1979; Piatelli-Palmarini, 1989. It’s just not so: Dawkins, 1986; Mayr, 1983; Maynard Smith, 1988; Tooby & Cosmides, 1990a, b; Pinker & Bloom, 1990; Dennett, 1983.

Natural language and natural selection: Pinker & Bloom, 1990.

Chomsky on the physics of brains: in Piatelli-Palmarini, 1980.

Language in dwarfs: Lenneberg, 1967. Language in normal hydrocephalics: Lewin, 1980. Normal brains and analytic processing in SLI: Gopnik, 1990b.

The throwing madonna: Calvin, 1991.

Demystifying language evolution: Pinker & Bloom, 1990.

Bates on three quarters of a rule: Bates, Thal, & Marchman, 1991, p. 31.

Bickerton on protolanguage and the Big Bang: Bickerton, 1990; Pinker, 1992.

Premack on mastodon-hunters: Premack, 1985, pp. 281–282.

Advantages of complex language: Burling, 1986. Cognitive arms race: Cosmides & Tooby, 1992. Gossip: Barkow, 1992. Some of the passages in this section are based on Pinker & Bloom, 1990.

Descent versus modification: Tooby & Cosmides, 1989.

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