Hussein Ghaly

Idiomatic expressions play a significant role in Chomsky’s argument for eliminating D-Structure and S-Structure and maintaining LF:

“ If condition A were to Apply at S-Structure … the later LF processes would be free to choose either idiomatic or the literal interpretation … thus we have the strongest kind of argument against S-Structure” “… a strong argument for LF representation. The facts are explained in terms of a level of representation with two properties: (1) phrases with a unitary interpretation such as the idiom (take … picture) or (have … attitudes) appear as units; (2) binding theory applies. In standard EST approaches, LF is the only candidate. This argument is still clearer in this minimalist theory, lacking D-Structure and … S-Structure.” Chomsky, The Minimalist Program, Pages 207-208

Children learn idioms following adult input

Input determines idiomatic and flexible expressions

Flexible expressions form templates

Templates help in learning lexical items and syntactic equivalencies

Templates are abstracted to form grammar

Children acquire the idiom “ants in the pants” – CHILDES corpus ["*MOT: (be)cause she's got ants in her pants . \x15111506_112911\x15", (4463, 174)] ['*MOT: +" ants in pants . \x1594363_98226\x15', (4463, 154)] ["*FAT: got ants in your pants today , don't you ?", (1537, 2379)] ['*CHI: ants in your pants .', (1668, 23862)] ['*MCH: you got ants in your pants .', (1675, 8071)] ['*BRO: I got ants in my pants an(d) I need to dance but a big fat momma', (1675, 11533)] ['*MCH: you got ants in your +...', (1675, 8074)] ['*MCH: got ants in my (.) +...', (1675, 8065)] ['*MOT: ants in the pants ? \x15972916_974781\x15', (3995, 1242)] ['*MOT: ants in the pants ? \x15970481_972916\x15', (3995, 1239)] ["*MOT: it's covered with dirt , not my pants that sat in the ants , ants in my pants tonight . \x151019315_1025593\x15", (3999, 1456)]

One assumption is to treat “Thank you” as an idiom…

From CHILDES Corpus: ◦ Number of “thank you” utterances: 3381 ◦ Number of “thank you” utterances by children: 490 ◦ Number of “thank” not followed by “you” utterances: 335 ◦ Number of “thank” not followed by “you” utterances by

children: 96

The percentage of “Thank (NOT you)” for children is about 20%, while for the rest is about 10%, but the rest includes children, so numbers need refinement

“Here’s X” is an expression that is partly idiomatic, but it is analyzable, so “Here’s” can be rigid, while X can change

Input can make some expressions “rigid/frozen” while others “flexible”

So given the input from adults: ["*MOT: oh (.) here's a chair .", (1, 166)] ["*MOT: here's a table .", (1, 186)] ["*MOT: here's a cooker like Daddy's cooker .", (3, 79)] ["*MOT: here's some blocks (.) beads .", (3, 129)] ["*MOT: here's something that goes over here .", (5, 405)] ["*MOT: look (.) here's that little puppy like you have .", (16, 353)] ["*MOT: here's another one .", (19, 132)] ["*MOT: here's some more round ones that go in there though .", (35, 459)] ["*MOT: and here's the bench for them to sit at the table .", (40, 478)]

Children would follow:

["*CHI: here's one for you .", (184, 11697)] ["*CHI: here's a railroad tracks .", (185, 6552)] ["*CHI: here's Jenny .", (185, 7735)] ["*CHI: here's a little horse .", (186, 1144)] ["*CHI: and here's my tennis racquet .", (187, 13956)]

Children learn: ◦ Anything at X has to be in one syntactic category

(NP)

◦ making equivalencies between NP treelets (e.g. Det N; Adj N; NP Cnj NP; NP C VP ..etc)

◦ Template can be associated with the pragmatic purpose of showing/pointing at/presenting something

◦ Matching template to new input to discover unknown items at X

How templates and categories can help in acquiring vocabulary and grammar of a new language

A little exercise with Egyptian Arabic

I have a cat ‘andee ottah 🐱

A fish and a cat Samakah we ottah 🐱 🐟

The cat is eating El ottah be taakol 🐱

He saw a fish Howwa shaaf samakah 🐟

he saw a monkey Howwa shaaf erd 🐒

So, how do you say “cat” in Egyptian Arabic?

I have a cat ‘andee ottah 🐱

A fish and a cat Samakah we ottah 🐱 🐟

The cat is eating El ottah be taakol 🐱

He saw a fish Howwa shaaf samakah 🐟

He saw a monkey Howwa shaaf erd 🐒

Cat = ottah = 🐱

I have a 🌑 ‘andee 🌑 🐱

A fish and a 🌑 Samakah we 🌑 🐱 🐟

The 🌑 is eating El 🌑 be taakol 🐱

He saw a fish Howwa shaaf samakah 🐟

He saw a monkey Howwa shaaf erd 🐒

Cat = ottah = 🐱

How about “fish”?

I have a 🌑 ‘andee 🌑 🐱

A 🌑 and a 🌑 🌑 we 🌑 🐱 🐟

The 🌑 is eating El 🌑 be taakol 🐱

He saw a 🌑 Howwa shaaf 🌑 🐟

He saw a monkey Howwa shaaf erd 🐒

Cat = ottah = 🐱 Fish= samakah= 🐟 How do you say “monkey”?

I have a 🌑 ‘andee 🌑 🐱

A 🌑 and a 🌑 🌑 we 🌑 🐱 🐟

The 🌑 is eating El 🌑 be taakol 🐱

He saw a 🌑 Howwa shaaf 🌑 🐟

He saw a 🌑 Howwa shaaf 🌑 🐒

Cat = ottah = 🐱 Fish= samakah= 🐟 Monkey=erd=🐒

John saw 🌑 John shaaf 🌑

My friend saw 🌑 Saahby shaaf 🌑

The old man saw 🌑 El raagel el ‘agooz shaaf 🌑

The man who lives at the fifth floor saw a 🌑

El raagel elly saaken fi el dor el khaames shaaf 🌑

He saw a 🌑 Howwa shaaf 🌑

Cat = ottah = 🐱 Fish= samakah= 🐟 Monkey=erd=🐒

How about “John” and other items

coming before “saw”?

Pragmatic value

🔲 saw 🌑 🔲 shaaf 🌑 Someone saw something

🔲 saw 🌑 🔲 shaaf 🌑 Someone saw something

🔲 saw 🌑 🔲 shaaf 🌑 Someone saw something

🔲 saw 🌑 🔲 shaaf 🌑 Someone saw something

🔲 saw a 🌑 🔲 shaaf 🌑 Someone saw something

Template: X saw Y = X shaaf Y; to express that someone saw something

Vocabulary: ◦ Cat = ottah = 🐱

◦ Fish= samakah= 🐟

◦ Monkey=erd=🐒

Syntactic Equivalents: ◦ John = John

◦ My friend = saahby

◦ The old man = el raagel el ‘agouz

◦ The man who lives at the fifth floor = el raagel elly saaken fi el dor el khaames

Pragmatic Value

🔲 saw 🌑 🔲 shaaf 🌑 Someone saw something

🔲 ate 🌑 🔲 akal 🌑 Someone ate something

🔲 pulled 🌑 🔲 shadd 🌑 Someone pulled something

🔲 took 🌑 🔲 akhad 🌑 Someone took something

🔲 made 🌑 🔲 ‘amal 🌑 Someone made something

All of these can be abstracted to the form:

X V Y

Idioms provide guidance on the role of input in creating flexible/rigid expressions/templates

With the input provided, we were able to acquire: ◦ Vocabulary items (cat = ottah ..etc)

◦ Syntactic equivalencies (My friend; the old man; the man who lives …)

◦ Templates associated with some semantic/pragmatic setting

◦ Abstraction of templates into grammar

P.S. Play the game “Champolu” built on the principles presented today

champolu.com

Volunteers are welcome