As I recall Tomassello's "Constructing a Language" deals with all the phases of grammar learning including complex recursive phrase structure grammar...
But it doesn't trace language learning from the teens into the twenties, no... >From a psychological point of view, that is an interesting topic, and I'd bet you a lot of money that there are loads of research papers on it (you are always quick to assume a topic has never been studied by anyone, but nearly always it has been, though maybe using different terminology than you're used to...). However, from an **AGI** perspective, I think that making an AGI that can converse in English at the level of an average human 5 year old is the hard part. If we can get there, then getting our AGIs to the level of more advanced humans will be relatively easy.... So I don't see the topic you mention as critical to AGI ... -- Ben G On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Mike Tintner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > Ben, > > Er, you seem to be confirming my point. Tomasello from Wiki is an early > child development psychologist. I want a model that keeps going to show the > stages of language acquistion from say 7-13, on through teens, and into the > twenties - that shows at what stages we understand progressively general and > abstract concepts like, say, government, philosophy, relationships, etc > etc. - and why different, corresponding texts are only understandable at > different ages. > > There is nothing like this because there is no true *embedded* cognitive > science that looks at how long it takes to build up a picture of the world, > and how language is embedded in our knowledge of the world. [The only thing > that comes at all close to it, that I know, is Margaret Donaldson's work, if > I remember right]. > > Re rhetorical structure theory - many thanks for the intro - & it looks > interesting. But again this is not an embedded approach: > > "RST is intended to describe texts, rather than the processes of creating > or reading and understanding them" > > For example, to understand sentences they quote like > > "He tends to be viewed now as a biologist, but in his 5 years on the Beagle > his main work was geology, and he saw himself as a geologist. His work > contributed significantly to the field." > > requires a considerable amount of underlying knowledge about Darwin's life, > and an extraordinary ability to handle timelines - and place > events/sentences in time. > > I can confidently bet that no one is attempting this type of > text/structural analysis because no one, as I said, is taking an embedded > approach to language. [Embedded is to embodied in the analysis of language > use and thought as environment is to nature in the analysis of behaviour > generally]. > > > Ben, > > > >> Cognitive linguistics also lacks a true deveopmental model of language >> acquisition that goes beyond the first few years of life, and can embrace >> all those several - and, I'm quite sure, absolutely necessary - stages of >> mastering language and building a world picture. >> > > > Tomassello's theory of language acquisition specifically embraces the > phenomena you describe. What don't you like about it? > > ben > > ------------------------------ > *agi* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/> | > Modify<https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;>Your Subscription > <http://www.listbox.com> > > ------------------------------ > *agi* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/> | > Modify<https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;>Your Subscription > <http://www.listbox.com> > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC Director of Research, SIAI [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome " - Dr Samuel Johnson ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=114414975-3c8e69 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
