storage but retrieval.^6 Second, although any language has an infinite possible
number of grammatical utterances, it is a mistake to confuse grammatical ut-
terances withgrammatical patterns.As it turns out, the number of acceptable
patterns in any given language is relatively small, and these patterns seem to
be based on brain architecture. The linear flow of information input through
the senses into the brain is replicated via the linear flow of electrochemical
signals through the neural pathways, which in turn is reflected in the linear
flow of speech and writing.
Cognitive processing tends to be hierarchical, moving from most to least im-
portant. In addition, we excel at establishing cause–effect relations, so much so
that this ability begins developing within hours of birth (Carey, 1995; Cohen,
Amsel, Redford, & Casasola, 1998; Springer & Keil, 1991). These features
would lead us to predict that languages will tend to be structured around
agency, with subjects in the initial position, which is exactly what we find.
From this perspective, there is no need to propose either a mechanism for in-
ducing grammar rules or parameters or a generative grammatical component.
We have only two major sentence patterns in English—SVO and SVC—and all
the other patterns are essentially variations of these. The constituents that make
up these patterns are universal across all known languages. That is, some com-
bination of subject, verb, object, and complement forms the basic pattern of all
languages. Thus, even if we ignored the inherent restrictions on grammar im-
posed by brain architecture, we could not argue that the number of grammatical
patterns is theoretically infinite. Returning to an example in chapter 5—The
day was very ... n hot—we must reject any suggestion that such sentences re-
veal anything significant about grammar, for the addition of the adverbialvery
does not affect the underlying sentence pattern, SVC. Furthermore, for the two
primary sentence patterns, there are only 12 possible grammatical combina-
tions (3! + 3! = 12), and many of these, such as OSV, are extremely rare, attested
in fewer than a half dozen languages.
Because humans excel at pattern recognition, the limited number of gram-
matical patterns in all languages is easily within the range of our capacity. The
task is so simple that even people with seriously limited intelligence have no
difficulty developing language that is grammatically correct.
Explaining Language Errors. Cognitive grammar proposes that lan-
guage production begins with an intention that activates the neural network. The
network produces logical propositions in the form of images in many instances,
212 CHAPTER 6
(^6) We often hear the assertion that people only use 10% of their brain. The reality is that people use all
their brain all the time, even when sleeping. This does not mean, however, that they use it to capacity. We
find an illustrative analogy in the act of lifting a book: All the arm muscles are working—they just aren’t
working to capacity. Lifting a dumbbell uses exactly the same muscles but to fuller capacity.