What counts as
evidence in linguistics?
WHAT IS UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR?
A system of grammatical rules and
constraints believed to underlie all
natural languages
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
What counts as evidence for
innateness claims

Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence

Universality and topological evidence



What counts as evidence for
innateness claims





Species-specificity
domain-specificity
the logical problem of language acquisition
genetic evidence
Universality and topological evidence
Brief History
Brief History
The 19th century: evolutionary biology
Brief History
The 19th century: evolutionary biology
Early 20th century: sociology and psychology
Brief History
The 19th century: evolutionary biology
Early 20th century: sociology and psychology
End of the 20th century: cognitive
psychology/sciences
Popper and the principle of the falsification
A scientist, whether theorist or experimenter,
puts forward statements, or systems of statements,
and tests them step by step. In the field of empirical
sciences, more particularly, he constructs
hypotheses, or systems of theories, and tests them
against experience by observation and experiment.
Popper.
EXPERIMENT
By Johnson,
Ohio state university, Columbus, Ohio
Given sentences
For the sentences in
table 1 this point
should be between the
3rd and 4th for list 1
sentences
.
For the list 2- between
the 5th and 6th words,
and between the 2nd
and 3rd
Results
To test the difference between the groups
each S scored for the total number of words
given correctly for the total number of words
given correctly across the 13 trials.
The mean for group 1 is 337,
for group 2 is 365.
Analysis
first phrase of the list 1 sentences. The probabilities
were computed across all sentences and all Ss.
Common misconceptions concerning the
nature of the linguistic data
“Psychologically real” data
Common misconceptions concerning the
nature of the linguistic data
“Psychologically real” data
Spontaneous speech data as privileged evidence
Common misconceptions concerning the
nature of the linguistic data
“Psychologically real” data
Spontaneous speech data as privileged evidence
Competence data VS performance data
Types of empirical data
(i) qualitative vs. quantitative data,
(ii) direct vs. indirect evidence,
(iii) spontaneous vs. elicited data.
Types of empirical data
(i) qualitative vs. quantitative data
(ii) direct vs. indirect evidence
(iii) spontaneous vs. elicited data
Types of empirical data
(i) qualitative vs. quantitative data
(ii) direct vs. indirect evidence
(iii) spontaneous vs. elicited data
Types of empirical data
(i) qualitative vs. quantitative data,
(ii) direct vs. indirect evidence,
(iii) spontaneous vs. elicited data
“Third kind” of evidence
…Computer modeling