Interesting talk in the Cambridge Linguistics Forum
Dr Paul Ibbotson, Open University
Thursday 22nd of November at 4.30-6pm
English Faculty Building, GR-06/07 (ground floor).
Tea/coffee and biscuits from 4pm.
“The cognitive and social foundations of language acquisition”
Paul Ibbotson will present evidence from his own research that shows the developmental trajectory of language is in some important sense contingent on the development of other non-linguistic abilities. The central thesis of work is that language is constructed out of usage events using species-general cognitive mechanisms (e.g. categorization, inhibition, memory, attention) and constrained by a species-unique set of social skills (e.g., communicative intention-reading, cultural learning). He will also discuss the promises and the challenges that taking this ‘developmental cognitive linguistics’ approach can bring.