Alternative Minimalist Visions of Language

Abstract

The primary goal of modern linguistic theory (at least in the circles I inhabit) is an explanation of the human language capacity and how it enables the child to acquire adult competence in language.1 Adult competence in turn is understood as the ability (or knowledge) to creatively map between sound and meaning, using a rich combinatorial system – the lexicon and grammar of the language. An adequate theory must satisfy at least three crucial constraints, which I will call the Descriptive Constraint, the Learnability Constraint, and the Evolutionary Constraint. The Descriptive Constraint is that the class of possible languages permitted by the theory of the language capacity must account for the adult’s competence in any particular language. The Learnability Constraint is that there must be a way for the child to attain adult command of lexicon and grammar, based on the input the child receives. To the extent that research reveals adult competence to be more and more complex, there is more for the theory of acquisition to explain.

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