Re: Feasible Learnability as a Universal Constraint on All, even Alien, Languages

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Tom Chappell <tomhchappell@Y...>
> wrote:
> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Yahya Abdal-Aziz <yahya@m...> wrote:
> > [snip]
> > ...  With regard to the constraints you
> > have listed, I have two questions:
> >
> > (1)  Did you arrive at them a priori, or do you have
> > objective evidence for them?
>
> Neither.  I found them in some academic papers on the Web.  I'll
> try to give some URLs.
>
>
> http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/cmp-lg/pdf/9611/9611002.pdf
>
> http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/C/C88/C88-1001.pdf
>
> http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/P/P88/P88-1028.pdf
>
> http://www.bic.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pathway/mami/pubs/ismb94.pdf
>
> http://64.233.167.104/search?
q=cache:NAG9r37tE4wJ:www.genome.ad.jp/manuscripts/GIW94/Oral/GIW94O03.
ps+beta-sheet+inside-outside+algorithm&hl=en
>
> [snip]
>
I think I left out some important URLs.

The first one, a paper called "Learnability" by Geoffrey K. Pullum,
doesn't give much detail nor much (I would say, "nor any") proof nor
evidence; but it does survey some of the questions and some of the
results, including some of the more interesting questions and
results, and some of the more recent questions and results.  Also, it
has a bibliography, which looks like, if one could read and
understand the works listed in it, would be a thorough and proper
introduction to the subfield of linguistics called "learnability
theory".

Apparently, "learnability theory", as a subfield of linguistics, has
been around since the middle-to-late nineteen-sixties; but, it has
been an active and growing subfield of publication only since the
early-to-middle nineteen-eighties.  Few books in this subfield are on
many university libraries' bookshelves yet.  There are several
available by special order from bookstores, but their cost tends to
be from about $75 to about $150.

Here are the extra URLs I mentioned:

http://www.kornai.com/MatLing/learn.pdf

http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Py104/pullum.learn.html

( http://www.kornai.com/MatLing/matling3.pdf )
(not only about Learnability)

-----

Thanks for your interest.

Tom H.C. in MI