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Abstract

Chomskian linguistic theory and specifically the Minimalist Program, provides theoretical constructs which allow us to address not only the logical problem of language acquisition (namely to determine how a child, in spite of the fragmented and underdetermined nature of the input data, is able to create an adult grammar) but also to explain the process of acquisition. Taking features, which is one of the theoretical constructs at the core of the Minimalist Program, as our point of departure, we argue that in order to account for the logical and the developmental problem of language acquisition we not only need accurate descriptions of the acquisition data but also that we can benefit from descriptions provided by both "theorophile" researchers (i.e., those who belong to the Chomskian camp) and "dataphile" researchers (i.e., those who belong to the constructivist or the connectionist camps). The "monosyllabic placeholders" which occur in child data provide an example of how we can benefit from analyses carried out by Chomskian scholars and by scholars working under the constructivist umbrella. According to the constructivists, the non-tonic vowels that occur before substantive categories (Nouns, Verbs) are the phonoprosodic precursors of the grammatical categories (Noun Phrases, Verb Phrases) with which the linguistic environment endows the infant's brain via an "instruction" procedure. From a different perspective, the generativists interpret the same non-tonic vowels as evidence that the child's genetic endowment, via a "selection" procedure, leads him to detect the input triggers needed to specify the formal features -be they semantic (referentiality) or syntactic (gender)- that the functional categories (Complementizer Phrase, Determiner Phrase) of any given language are made up of.