Language, Rule-Governed Behavior, and Cognitivism: On Moerk's Integration of Skinner's and Chomsky's Approaches to Language

Abstract

This is a friendly critique of Moerk’s synthesis of cognitive and behavioral approaches to language. The critique addresses four dangers we all have trouble avoiding: (a) the confusion of rule-governed and contingency-controlled behavior, (b) the acceptance of the mentalistic implications common to cognitive terminology, (c) the nonrigorous use of behavioral concepts, and (d) the acceptance of the structuralist limitations common to linguistics.