Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h6L1Ad716228; Sun, 20 Jul 2003 21:10:39 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 21:10:39 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <13CE05E4.0B713735.0A349A3F@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: AWilder106@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2446] Re: Syntax X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Mailer: Atlas Mailer 2.0 Status: O Content-Length: 1609 Lines: 19 Andres, Thank you very much for your thoughtful post. I don't think anything I have said negates or runs counter to what you say about Chomsky and grammar, I just condensed and aimed for the core, which I believe is syntax. I'd say grammar is an elaboration of syntax. I'm not interested in a zilliion different rules, though linguists are, and Chomsky is, and Pinker has been but now is moving into other areas. If I were teaching adults I would have to pay attention to English grammar, how syntax is elaborated, but that isn't my point now. Children's language develops in interaction with others, and that's all I mean, not that others instruct children. I know the individual recognizes the difference between nonsense sentences that are syntactically correct and sentences that make sense, I mentioned that in a previous post. Check out the recent NYTimes article and you will see that Chomsky too is moving on. Sometimes I admire him, sometimes I don't--it depends on the issue. Piaget's experiments were I believe with his own children--actually I think that Imhelder gathered most of the data. By "experiment" I mean that he manipulated play situations to observe how children would react. His main focus was on object constancy, which eventually evolves neatly into constants and variables. He considered this type of "scientific" thinking to be the highest kind of thinking and the highest kind of language development. I do not mean to slight him as he laid a floor for precise observation of children, and others have built on, elaborated, expanded, on his concepts. Andrea
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