Background
Lightfoot, David William was born on February 10, 1945 in Looe, England. Son of William Richard and Peggy May (Stevens) Lightfoot.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
The Language Lottery: Toward a Biology of Grammar (MIT Press)
( David Lightfoot is Director, Linguistics Program, Unive...)
David Lightfoot is Director, Linguistics Program, University of Maryland and Extraordinary Professor of Linguistics, University of Utrecht, Netherlands.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262620456/?tag=2022091-20
The Language Lottery
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KK4T02/?tag=2022091-20
Language Lottery: Toward a Biology of Grammars
(At last! A lucid but not superficial book that explains w...)
At last! A lucid but not superficial book that explains what linguistics is about as well as how linguists go about their business.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262120968/?tag=2022091-20
How to Set Parameters: Arguments from Language Change
(Over the past decade generative grammarians have viewed l...)
Over the past decade generative grammarians have viewed language acquisition as a process of fixing option points or parameters defined in Universal Grammar. Here David Lightfoot addresses the crucial question of what it takes to set a parameter, of what kind of experience is needed to trigger the emergence of a natural kind of grammar.Lightfoot asserts that parameter setting is not sensitive to embedded material, that it is triggered only by robust elements that are structurally simple. He observes that morphological properties play a significant role in setting parameters which. have widespread syntactic effects. Using evidence from data on diachronic changes and from current work in syntactic theory, Lightfoot makes precise claims about the triggering experience that can explain a number of historical puzzles. He argues that the changes could have taken place in the way they did only if language acquisition proceeds on the basis of simple, unembedded experiences.Along the way Lightfoot examines consequences of the loss of the rich Old English case system and of the breakdown of the verb classes and takes up particularly illuminating cases of obsolescent structures.David Lightfoot is Professor and Chairman of the Linguistics Department at the University of Maryland.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262121530/?tag=2022091-20
David William Lightfoot
Edit ProfileEducation
Bachelor with honors, U. London, 1966; Master of Arts, University of Michigan, 1968; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Michigan, 1971.
Career
Assistant professor, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1970-1975; associate professor, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, 1975-1978; professor, U. Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1978-1983; professor, U. Maryland., College Park, since 1983.
Achievements
Works
book
-
How to Set Parameters: Arguments from Language Change
(Over the past decade generative grammarians have viewed l...)
-
The Language Lottery: Toward a Biology of Grammar (MIT Press)
( David Lightfoot is Director, Linguistics Program, Unive...)
-
Language Lottery: Toward a Biology of Grammars
(At last! A lucid but not superficial book that explains w...)
- The Language Lottery
-
How to Set Parameters: Arguments from Language Change
Membership
Member Linguistic Society American, Linguistic Association Great Britain.
Connections
Married Sarah Elizabeth Hairs, February 7, 1946 (divorced 1980). Children: Kirsten, Heidi. Married Sari Ruth Hornstein, November 24, 1955.
Children: Eric, Alexander.
