Volume 8 Num. 3 - October 2008
Language Is Complex
Volume 8 Num. 3 - October 2008 - Pages 351-362
Authors:
Rick Dale , Jennifer Roche , Nicholas Duran
Abstract:
In this commentary, we consider three good ideas from Verbal Behavior that have become
central to some recent cognitive theories of language learning and use: social contingencies,
multiple causality, and piecemeal syntactic growth. Following this, we identify two weaknesses
of the book that may still invite new avenues of application of a behavioral framework to
language: comprehension precedes production, and the vast complexity of syntax in normal
usage. We end by briefly considering how behavioral, cognitive, and other frameworks
should seek ways to integrate in an attempt to tackle the daunting complexity of language
behavior.
Key words:
language, complexity, learning, cognition, syntax, pluralism.
Full Article
More articles in this volume
- [275-276] Presentation of the Series Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the book, Verbal Behavior, B.F. Skinner
- [277-285] Skinner?s Verbal Behavior In a New Century
- [279-285] An Orderly Arrangement of Well-Known Facts: Retrospective Review of B. F. Skinner?s Verbal Behavior
- [287-294] Skinner?s Verbal Behavior
- [295-307] On Skinner?s Definition of Verbal Behavior
- [309-322] Conditioning the Behavior of the Listener
- [335-350] A Behavior Analytic Interpretation of Theory of Mind
- [363-386] The Ontogenetic Selection of Verbal Capabilities: Contributions of Skinner?s Verbal Behavior Theory to a More Comprehensive Understanding of Language
- [413-430] A Proposal to Measure a Modulator of the Experience of Enjoyment: The Gaudiebility Scale
