ICREA, Barcelona, Spain ; Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
PLoS One. 2013 Sep 3;8(9):e72357. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072357. eCollection 2013.
This study addresses the feasibility of the classical notion of parameter in linguistic theory from the perspective of parametric hierarchies. A novel program-based analysis is implemented in order to show certain empirical problems related to these hierarchies. The program was developed on the basis of an enriched data base spanning 23 contemporary and 5 ancient languages. The empirical issues uncovered cast doubt on classical parametric models of language acquisition as well as on the conceptualization of an overspecified Universal Grammar that has parameters among its primitives. Pinpointing these issues leads to the proposal that (i) the (bio)logical problem of language acquisition does not amount to a process of triggering innately pre-wired values of parameters and (ii) it paves the way for viewing language, epigenetic ('parametric') variation as an externalization-related epiphenomenon, whose learning component may be more important than what sometimes is assumed.
这项研究从参数层次的角度探讨了语言学理论中经典参数概念的可行性。为了展示与这些层次结构相关的某些经验问题，我们实施了一种基于程序的新分析。该程序是在一个包含 23 种现代语言和 5 种古代语言的丰富数据库的基础上开发的。所揭示的经验问题使人们对语言习得的经典参数模型以及对具有参数作为其原语的超特定通用语法的概念化产生了怀疑。指出这些问题导致提出以下观点：（i）语言习得的（生物）问题并不等同于触发内在预先布线的参数值的过程，（ii）它为将语言、表观遗传（“参数”）变异性视为与外部化相关的伴随现象铺平了道路，其学习成分可能比有时假设的更为重要。
