Comment Re:Child language acquisition (Score 1) 213
Browns reasoning went that(in English at least) learning when rules were not meant to apply was much harder as the social cues weren't as overt and the mere presence reinforcement was invalid, so this last step was the most overt, intentional learning based.
That reminds me of a famous conversational sequence about the complete uselessness of overt language correction in young children:
Child: Want other one spoon, Daddy.
Father: You mean, you want the other spoon.
Child: Yes, I want other one spoon, please Daddy.
Father: Can you say "the other spoon."
Child: Other ... one ... spoon.
Father: Say "other."
Child: Other.
Father: "Spoon."
Child: Spoon.
Father: "Other spoon."
Child: Other ... spoon. Now give me other one spoon?
Father: You mean, you want the other spoon.
Child: Yes, I want other one spoon, please Daddy.
Father: Can you say "the other spoon."
Child: Other
Father: Say "other."
Child: Other.
Father: "Spoon."
Child: Spoon.
Father: "Other spoon."
Child: Other
(from "When do people learn languages?", although it's been cited in many, many other places)
Also, a long line of research has found that parents tend to correct their children's utterances based on their truth value and not so much based on their grammar.
