Competitive Exclusion and Coexistence of Universal Grammars

✍ Scribed by W. Garrett Mitchener; Martin A. Nowak

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 678 KB
• Volume: 65
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1522-9602
• DOI: 10.1006/bulm.2002.0322

✦ Synopsis

Universal grammar (UG) is a list of innate constraints that specify the set of grammars that can be learned by the child during primary language acquisition. UG of the human brain has been shaped by evolution. Evolution requires variation. Hence, we have to postulate and study variation of UG. We investigate evolutionary dynamics and language acquisition in the context of multiple UGs. We provide examples for competitive exclusion and stable coexistence of different UGs. More specific UGs admit fewer candidate grammars, and less specific UGs admit more candidate grammars. We will analyze conditions for more specific UGs to outcompete less specific UGs and vice versa. An interesting finding is that less specific UGs can resist invasion by more specific UGs if learning is more accurate. In other words, accurate learning stabilizes UGs that admit large numbers of candidate grammars.