Chomsky_s_Philosophy_of_Language乔姆斯基语言哲学.ppt

Chomsky’s Philosophy of language Outline Descartes vs. Locke Rationalism vs. Empiricism Empiricist’s theory of language Chomsky’s criticisms Chomsky’s rationalist theory of language Chomsky’s research methods I. Descartes vs. Locke Descartes Language distinguishes humans from animals There are innate ideas Clear and distinct ideas I think, therefore I am God exists mathematics Geometry … Maybe also knowledge of language?? Locke There are no innate ideas All knowledge comes from experience All knowledge are based on simple ideas and complex ideas The mind has some abilities to Perceive Compare Remember Abstract … Stimulus + Sense organs + mind’s abilities ? knowledge Knowledge of language also obtained in this way?? II. Empiricist’s Theory of Language Knowledge of language is learned There are some general learning mechanisms Induction/Generalization （归纳/推衍） Analogy （类比） Harris’s “discovery procedures” （乔姆斯基博士导师） Other learning algorithms (人工智能领域的） Probabilistic algorithms … … III. Chomsky’s Criticisms Criticism of induction/generalization Criticism of analogy Chomsky: ‘analogy’ wrong (1) John is easy to please (2) John is eager to please They are similar, so the child should interpret them analogously. But the child does not do this. So the idea of analogy is wrong. Chomsky: ‘generalisation’ wrong (1)?John ate an apple. (2)??John ate. (3)??John is too stubborn to talk to Bill. (4) John is too stubborn to talk to. Generalising from (1) and (2): (5) Whenever an object is missing, an arbitrary object is meant. But if the child applies (5) to (4), it will get a wrong interpretation But the child does not make such a mistake. Another example the man is tall — is the man tall? the book is on the table — is the book on the table? Generalisation: To form a question: prepose the first ‘is’ The child would do: the man who is tall is in the room — is the man who tall is in the room? But the child actually does: the man who is tall is in the room — is the man who is