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From: longrich@princeton.edu (Nick Longrich)
Subject: Re: What's innate?
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References: <1995Feb22.033435.26696@oracorp.com> <D4HDB2.Kx4@spss.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 02:46:35 GMT
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In article <D4HDB2.Kx4@spss.com>, markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder) wrote:

> In article <1995Feb22.033435.26696@oracorp.com>,
> Daryl McCullough <daryl@oracorp.com> wrote:
> >Having said that, I realize that little kids actually have language to
> >help them learn language. Once they learn a core language, that core
> >language can be used to "bootstrap" them to the full language. For
> >example, they can be *told* "No, not `Me want bannana', `*I* want a
> >bannana.'"  However, I don't know whether this kind of correction is
> >necessary for children. 


   What would you say about the double-negative being inherent to our
built-in linguistic system? It seems to be a very common grammatical
mistake- perhaps one all kids make? Some languages actually incorporate it
into their grammar (No tengo nada- "I don't got nothing"- in Spanish) and
it seems to be a mistake that occurs with unusual regularity and
persistence despite our best attempts to get rid of it. I would say that
we eliminated it from "proper" English after we realized how the
statement, logically, means the reverse of what we are trying to say. Just
a thought.

   -n.L.
