خلاصة:
The present study begins by sketching "Chaos/Complexity Theory" (C/CT) and its applic a- tion to the nature of language and language acquisition. Then, the theory of "Universal Grammar" (UG) is explicated with an eye to C/CT. Firstly, it is revealed that CCT may or may not be allied with a theory of language acquisition that takes UG as the initial state of language acquisition for granted. To compound the problem, even those C/CT theorists who adhere to UG conceptualize it differently from Chomsky to meet the conditions set forth in C/CT, and dismiss the idea of studying language acquisition without leaving room for inve s- tigating language use. Secondly, it is argued that unlike Chomsky’s postulation of UG and generative grammar as mutational, C/CT theorists conceive of them as evolutionary pheno m- ena. Thirdly, it is discussed that while advocates of UG, as a biologically predetermined state of the mind, believe that it has no analogue in other systems, C/CT proponents pos tulate their all-embracing theory as underlying all kinds of complex nonlinear systems operating in the world, of which language is only a case.
ملخص الجهاز:
com chaos is a science of process and of becom- ing; "complex" as they comprise a large number of agents, and their global behavior emerges from the local transactions of the compo- nents; "nonlinear" as the effect is disproportionate to the cause; "chaotic" as complex nonlinear systems en- ter into a period of complete randomness ir- regularly and unpredictably; "unpredictable" as the onset of randomness is not predictable, and complex systems be- have regularly until a critical point, then chaotically before they go orderly again; "sensitive to initial conditions" as a slight change in their initial conditions can have vast implications for their future behavior; "open" as they are open to new matter and energy infusion; "self-organizing" as in their evolution, they engage in spontaneous large-scale re- structurings and grow in order and com- plexity; "feedback sensitive" as they are capable of learning; and "marked by strange at- tractors and fractal patterns" as they repeat their cycles, but no cycles follow the exact same path; nor does they overlap any oth- er cycle.
Accordingly, some chaos complexity theorists conceptualize the brain as a complex nonlinear system, and lan- guage as a system that grows and organizes it- self organically from the bottom up: …, recent work in connectionism denies the existence of conventional syntactic repre- sentations, of Universal Grammar, and of an inborn acquisition device specifically for language.