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From: John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
Subject: Re: Ebonics, the LAD, and PC
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Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 19:00:49 GMT
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Allen Gardner wrote:

> Most of the posts to this group seem to support the claim that second
> language learners cannot equal the skill of native speakers.  This
> conforms to the Chomskyite postulation of a species-specific, human
> Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which must for - biologically
> imperative reasons - operate during a critical early period.  In this
> view, the impairment is the same, whether there was a total absence of
> a first language model or a different first language model during the
> critical period.  Within this theory of a species-specific, human LAD
> poor black kids deprived of the dominant English model during their
> critical period must forever fail.

There are at least two unexpressed, but rhetorically assumed,
equivalences
here.

1)	Not learning any language == not learning a specific language
	(i.e. if people who don't learn some language within a critical
	period can never learn any language properly, then people who
	learn language A rather than B within a critical period can
	never learn language B properly).

2) 	Not learning a language == not learning a dialect
	(i.e. if people who learn language A rather than B within a
	critical period, then people who learn dialect A_1 rather than
	A_2 of language A within the critical period can never
	learn dialect A_2 properly).

It may be that either, or neither, of these equivalences is
warranted by the facts.

It may be that either, or neither, of these equivalences is
entailed by Chomsky's positions on language acquisition.

Not being an expert, I will merely state that I believe
neither equivalence is warranted by the facts.

-- 
John Cowan						cowan@ccil.org
			e'osai ko sarji la lojban
