🚀 go-pugleaf

 Hi, I'm writing an essay, with a reading notebook, on the subject of 
language acquisition.  Our text for the course I'm taking is Martha 
Kolln's _Understanding English Grammar_, which our professor has said 
is outdated and soon to be replaced.

 Concerning language acquisition:  How do you know the rules of 
grammar?  How do we learn the rules of grammar?  People instinctively 
break up sentences into two parts; English is binary.  I'll be 
studying the differences between langue (competence) and parole 
(performance).  According to our professor, all children go through 
similar stages of development at similar times, regardless of language 
and culture.  I'll be looking at pivot/operational format, i.e., the 
way kids move from "want dog" or cookie me" to more complex sentences. 
Affixes are missing in early kids grammar and these come as classes.  
Adding an "s" is learned as the grammatical concept of plural.  Kids 
learn this before the learn verb affixed such as "boy sings."  Kids 
speak in active voice declaratives with intonations indicating aspect 
or time.  According to my professor, intonations always come first.  
I've been told this is "a very slippery subject."

 So far, someone has recommended to me:  Comsky's _Knowledge of 
Language; its nature, origin and use_, Martin Atkinson's _Explanation 
in the study of child language development_, Robert Berwick's _The 
acquisition of syntactic knowledge_, and a book by Andrew Radford just 
recently published.

 My professor is really big on tranformational grammar theory.  She 
says that kids learn language the way transformational grammar teaches 
it.

 I'm also working on diagramming the following:

	He was extremely polite to Lavinia, scrupulously, formally
	polite; and she had never seen him in anger but once in her
	life, when he lost his temper in a theological discussion with
	her late husband.  With her he never discussed theology, nor,
	indeed, discussed anything; he contented himself with making
	known, very distinctly, in the form of a lucid ultimatum, his
	wishes with regard to Catherine.

		Once, when the girl was about twelve years old, he had
	said to her --
		"Try and make a clever woman of her, Lavinia; I should
	like her to be a clever woman."
		Mrs. Penniman, at this, looked thoughtful a moment.
	"My dear Austin," she then inquired, "do you think it is 
	better to be clever than to be good?"

 Isn't this great to diagram?  I'll post my humble efforts thus far
in my next posting.

 Thanks for any help!

Cindy Smith
cms@dragon.com