The fact that children often appear to learn little from corrective feedback has led theorists to construct the "logical problem of language acquisition" (LPLA). The idea is that, without further formal constraints, language can be formally proven to be unlearnable. This paper argues that the LPLA is based on a restricted view of the nature of language, the nature of the learner, and the nature of the learning environment. When we examine the full set of forces channeling language learning, including competition, recasts, conservatism, and indirect negative evidence, w e see that language is in fact highly learnable and the LPLA is not well motivated. In its place, we hope that language theory can focus on the analysis of overgeneralizations as ways of diagnosing the shape of underlying analogic pressures.

The paradigm of immediate serial recall (Baddeley, 1986) has been used extensively in investigation of working m e m o r y , but its relation to and implica- tions for the nature of phonological processing have seldom been examined. W e show thatfindings from this domain can be interpreted in two ways, and relate these two interpretations to a simple model of phono- logical processing. One interpretation emphasizes the availability of infonnation from "output" phono- logical processing to "input" phonological process- ing, while the alternative account stipulates no such connections. On the basis of an experimental study designed to choose between the two accounts, w e tentatively conclude that the interpretation suggest- ing output-input connectivity is supported. Estab- lishment of this result would be of considerable in- terest, since it indicates that processes in language production can impact directly on processes in lan- guage perception.

The dominant model of cognition is based upon amodal symbol systems. We support an alternative model that places embodiment at the center of cognition. On this view, sensorimotor experiences of actions form the basis of linguistic and nonlinguistic understanding.