newhorizonsinthestudyoflanguageandmind.doc

乔姆斯基在人类语言器官问题上所持的内在论的立场，即语言知识内在于人类的心智，大脑之中，是一个心智客体，最终是一个生物客体游离于心智，大脑之外的语言之外的语言是存在的也就是乔姆斯基的内在论和自然论语言观1 乔姆斯基所持的语言观是内在的，他认为，人的心智，大脑中除其它认知系统外，还有一个系统叫语言器官，专管语言知识及其应用每个人出生，他的语言器官就处于由遗传决定的“初始状态”之中；这是全人类共有的一种生物秉赋，而且是人类独有的生物特性环境只对内在决定的成长过程起到激发作用，而且只对其产生有限的影响；这种内在决定的成长过程大约在青春期逐渐稳定下来这样，语言器官由初始状态经过环境的触发作用发展到相对稳定状态语言器官所达到的稳定状态由无限个语言表达式构成，每个语言表达式都具有自身的语音，结构和语义特征这一状态其实就是一个运算系统，乔姆斯基称之为“语言” ，或内语言如果某人的语言器官达到某一状态，那么就可以认为他具有 L 这种语言语言信号是各种语言的外在表现；话语行为则是广义上的语言表达式的外在表现只有与使用系统整合，I 语言才算得上真正的语言使用系统有两类：发音-知觉系统和概念-意念系统前者为语言表达式提供语音，后者赋予语言表达式逻辑式，为其提供语义解释。

乔姆斯基提出的基于原则-参数理论的最简方案认为，语言器官镶嵌于大脑并与其他各种器官交互作用，语言器官表征应该能够满足心智，大脑其他器官提出的所有条件这些条件叫易读性条件，它要求其它器官能够辨认出语言生成的表达式，并用来指导思维和行为他认为，语言器官以最经济的方式很好的满足了条件，在这种意义上，它的设计是完美的，他进一步指出，从表面上看，语言似乎有两个不够完美的地方：首先，语言中有些部分即无语义内容，又无语音上动因，因此，在语音和语义上属于不可解释的特征其次，人类语言还有一个人工语言所没有的特性，叫易位性，即句子成分可以处在不同的位置上但却不改变意义，也就是所谓的转换最简方案把这两条关联到了一起，认为语言的易位性来自思维系统的某种外在的要求所以，易位性和不可解释性的特征仍然符合易读性条件自然主义语言观：他认为人类语言是一个生物的客体，因此，应该使用与自然科学同样的方法来研究语言除对自然科学均有的限制外，不应对语言研究提出额外的限制条件1 new horizen in the study of languageThe faculty of language can reasonably be regarded as a language organ in the sense in which scientists speak of the visual system, or immune system, or circularotry system, as organs of the body. Each language is the result of the interplay of two factors: the initial state and the couse of experience. We can think of the initial state as a language acquisition device that takes experience as input and gives the of as an output- an output that is internally represented in the mind or brain. There is strong reason to believe that the initial state is common to the species. Generative grammar arose in the context of what is often called the cognitive revolution of the 1950s, and was an important factor in its development. There was an important changes of perspective: from the study of behavior and its products, to the inner mechanisms that enter into thought and action. The cognitive perspective regards behavior and its products not as the object of inquiry, but as data that may provide evidence abouthe inner mechanisms of mind and the ways these mechanisms operate in execuing actions and interpreting experience. The properties annd patterns that were the focus of attention in structural linguistics find their place, but as phenomena to be explained in terms of the inner mechanism that generate expressions. The approach is mentalistic. It undertakes to study a real object in the natural world-the brain, the state, and it function. The congnitive revolution renewed and reshaped many of the insights, achievenments. It was recognized at the time that language involves the inifinite use of finite means, in Wilhelm von Humblodt’s phrase. 。