Simplicity and complexity in child language and its explanation

Abstract

Theories of early language development differ in the degree of abstraction granted to the early stages, and in the perspectives these adopt with regards to the interaction between lexicon and syntax. The paradigm associated with generative approaches and the continuity hypothesis attributes early complexity and abstraction to access to innate knowledge of structure. The paradigm generally identified with emergentist/general learning approaches assumes complexity is an emergent property that arises from experience. Comparing paradigms is difficult because they pursue different goals: one focuses on developmental stages and the other on the nature of representation at each stage. The core claim of generative approaches is that the product of lexical learning must interface explicitly with a system capable of formal productivity and of supporting compositionality. The present article reviews evidence for productivity in early negation, on the growth of syntactic recursion, and on ellipsis construction, and examines the notion of merge and compositionality and their explanatory role in language and language development.