What is the Relation of Cross-Linguistic Patterns and Language Development?
LouAnn Gerken University of Arizona The foundation for much of the study of linguistics and language development is a pair of observations: similarities exist in the patterns observed among human languages, and children’s immature linguistic forms often bear some resemblance to typical (unmarked) patterns observed cross-linguistically. There are at least two accounts for these observations. The traditional account is that both cross-linguistic patterns and children’s immature forms reflect a single factor – the human biological endowment for language. However, another account is also possible. On this view, similarities among human languages reflect a set of interacting factors, including constraints on what humans are able to conceive, learn, remember, perceive, and produce. This multi-factor account provides an explanation for the observation that forms that are unmarked cross-linguistically are often the most frequent forms within a particular language, which in turn influence langu
