Variation by Context: The Importance of Pragmatics and the Discourse

ABSTRACT

I argue that the variation within and across contexts detailed by Shin & Miller is indicative of a broader phenomenon in which morphosyntax and the discourse context are intertwined, including elements like perspective, discourse relations, information structure, and common ground. Appealing to independent evidence highlighting the role of pragmatics in language acquisition, I suggest that the current research invites us to think more carefully about the integration of pragmatics into a universal language learning process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).