Determining the Kernel

Abstract

I would like to start off this paper with an apology. While I am relatively sure that the way that I have set the problem here is the correct one, I am much less sure that my solution is correct. In this case, setting the problem is one half the battle. But the problem here is a gigantic one, and one which really should be tackled by the linguistics community as a whole, and particularly by linguists who speak exotic languages\who needn’t necessarily be language acquisition specialists, since the problem here is really a problem of the “logical problem of language acquisition”.

This paper was originally given as talks at Indiana University, GLOW parasession on language acquisition, the University of Geneva, and the University of Gröningen. Much of the research was conducted at NIAS (the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies), and I would like to thank both the Director of the Institute, Dr. Van de Kaa, and the members of group, led by Teun Hoekstra and Harry van der Hülst. Thanks to Tom Roeper, Steve Franks, Teun Hoekstra, and Christina Schmitt for helpful comments. Special thanks to Steve Franks, Laurie Zaring, and Johan Rooryck for a very special welcome at Indiana University, and the chance to contribute to this volume. All problems and difficulties—and there are many—are mine.