The Mind of a Savant: Language Learning and Modularity

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Summary: This text is a comprehensive study of a linguistic savant.
Review: This text is a case study of an individual, Christopher, who was chosen due to his apparent ability to communicate in over a dozen languages despite the fact that his scores on a variety of tests that measure intelligence were below average. In the eyes of the authors, Christopher qualifies as a linguistic savant, and as such provides an example of double dissociation which, upon study, may yield data applicable to the human mind in general and have impact in particular on existing psycholinguistic theories. As such, the authors state a complex hypothesis in question form, which they then set about to explore through an observational study based on Christopher's responses, history, and behavior. Hypothesis Questions in the hypothesis can be framed in two categories - cognition and second language acquisition. In regards to a theory of mind, the framework set by Fodor's theory of mental architecture and Anderson's model of intelligence are discussed and compared. Within the area of second language acquisition, the question of whether Christopher's performance in non-native languages is independent of his general cognitive abilities is addressed, with an emphasis placed on his stages of development in each non-native language. Data relevant toward an in-depth study of each of these issues was then gathered by the researchers over a period of four years, continuously analyzed and applied to reformulation of current theories of mind and language acquisition. The resulting model is provided in Figure 5.3. First Language Competency In relation to first language acquisition, the researchers tested Christopher for structures including declaratives, passives, negatives, interrogatives, relatives, clefts, pseudo-clefts, and others involving variations in word-order, the use of polarity items, etc. (p.44). The researchers recorded several thousand of these types of interactions with him during the study. The conclusion was that Christopher was linguistically competent in his native language, English. Results and Conclusions While Christopher demonstrated knowledge of between fifteen to twenty languages other than his native English, he was not able to demonstrate native use of any of them. The structure of his first language acted as a continuous influence on the translation of the form systems of the other languages, and often his attempts could be characterized as word by word translation rather semantic or syntactic processing. Christopher tended to display a mastery of morphological properties and of encyclopedic aspects of the lexicon, yet struggled with whole sentence translation and answering rhetorical types of questions.

Rating:
Summary: This text is a comprehensive study of a linguistic savant.
Review: This text is a case study of an individual, Christopher, who was chosen due to his apparent ability to communicate in over a dozen languages despite the fact that his scores on a variety of tests that measure intelligence were below average. In the eyes of the authors, Christopher qualifies as a linguistic savant, and as such provides an example of double dissociation which, upon study, may yield data applicable to the human mind in general and have impact in particular on existing psycholinguistic theories. As such, the authors state a complex hypothesis in question form, which they then set about to explore through an observational study based on Christopher's responses, history, and behavior. Hypothesis Questions in the hypothesis can be framed in two categories - cognition and second language acquisition. In regards to a theory of mind, the framework set by Fodor's theory of mental architecture and Anderson's model of intelligence are discussed and compared. Within the area of second language acquisition, the question of whether Christopher's performance in non-native languages is independent of his general cognitive abilities is addressed, with an emphasis placed on his stages of development in each non-native language. Data relevant toward an in-depth study of each of these issues was then gathered by the researchers over a period of four years, continuously analyzed and applied to reformulation of current theories of mind and language acquisition. The resulting model is provided in Figure 5.3. First Language Competency In relation to first language acquisition, the researchers tested Christopher for structures including declaratives, passives, negatives, interrogatives, relatives, clefts, pseudo-clefts, and others involving variations in word-order, the use of polarity items, etc. (p.44). The researchers recorded several thousand of these types of interactions with him during the study. The conclusion was that Christopher was linguistically competent in his native language, English. Results and Conclusions While Christopher demonstrated knowledge of between fifteen to twenty languages other than his native English, he was not able to demonstrate native use of any of them. The structure of his first language acted as a continuous influence on the translation of the form systems of the other languages, and often his attempts could be characterized as word by word translation rather semantic or syntactic processing. Christopher tended to display a mastery of morphological properties and of encyclopedic aspects of the lexicon, yet struggled with whole sentence translation and answering rhetorical types of questions.