two structures coexist in the network owing to the fact that they both appear in
speech. Whether a person uses one or the other depends not on internal rules
or external stimuli that interfere with the application of those rules but on
other factors (Goldrick & Rapp, 2001). Age increases the connection
strengths within the network, so as people grow older they produce fewer er-
rors. However, this model predicts that, statistically, errors always will occur
on a random basis regardless of age. This prediction is born out by the fact that
everyone produces errors of one type or another while speaking, even though
grammar is inherent in their language subsystems. Errors in writing have the
same basis. In this context, language acquisition is not, as formalist grammars
propose, a process of developing the grammar tools necessary for producing
language; rather, it is a process of developing the neural network, which pro-
vides the tools for language.
By the same token, this model allows us to understand why language in-
struction in our schools is slow and difficult. Children come to school with the
home language well established. The connection strengths for nonstandard
language have had years of reinforcement, whereas there may be no connec-
tions at all for certain features of Standard or formal Standard English. For most
children, age will simply increase the disparity because of insufficient expo-
sure over the course of their lives to Standard and formal Standard models.
The Role of Grammar in Acquisition. Grammar is an important part
of the whole language apparatus, but it is only one part. Grammar, from any
perspective, is a pattern of word combinations. Cognitive grammar dismisses
the idea of an innate universal grammar without dismissing the idea of linguis-
tic universals. It also rejects the proposal that grammar has a generative compo-
nent for producing language. Language production is the result of complex
cognitive and physiological processes associated with intention, motivation,
socialization, image formation, and logical propositions.
In addition, production must involve a fundamental communicative compe-
tence that includes a wide array of behaviors—such as recognition and inter-
pretation of facial expressions and body language, necessary for turn taking in
conversations; recognition and understanding of situation and audience, which
govern the level of formality in language use (when talking to the boss, we
don’t use the same language that we use when having pizza and beer with
friends); and prosody, which is not limited to the metrical structure of poetry
but also includes the rhythm of spoken language.
Prosody is critically important to language because when rhythm patterns in
speech do not match what the hearer expects, communication is seriously ham-
pered. The difficulty in understanding foreign accents, for example, is fre-
216 CHAPTER 6