Norbert Hornstein and Cedric Boeckx
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195305432
- eISBN:
- 9780199866953
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305432.003.0005
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Models and Architectures
This chapter focuses on linguistic universals embodied in Universal Grammar (UG), a characterization of the innate properties of the language faculty. Approaching language universals from a ...
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This chapter focuses on linguistic universals embodied in Universal Grammar (UG), a characterization of the innate properties of the language faculty. Approaching language universals from a minimalist perspective, it begins by contrasting I-universals (innate properties of UG) with E-universals (universals in the Greenbergian tradition). It argues that even if every language displayed some property P, it would not imply that P is an I-universal, whereas P would be considered an E-universal. The chapter considers the relative importance of the following three factors in accounting for I-universals: (a) genetic endowment, (b) experience, and (c) language-independent principles. It concludes that the minimalist perspective suggests that I-universals—the key properties of UG—may not be genetically encoded but instead may derive from language-independent principles of good design.Less
This chapter focuses on linguistic universals embodied in Universal Grammar (UG), a characterization of the innate properties of the language faculty. Approaching language universals from a minimalist perspective, it begins by contrasting I-universals (innate properties of UG) with E-universals (universals in the Greenbergian tradition). It argues that even if every language displayed some property P, it would not imply that P is an I-universal, whereas P would be considered an E-universal. The chapter considers the relative importance of the following three factors in accounting for I-universals: (a) genetic endowment, (b) experience, and (c) language-independent principles. It concludes that the minimalist perspective suggests that I-universals—the key properties of UG—may not be genetically encoded but instead may derive from language-independent principles of good design.
Sergio Balari and Guillermo Lorenzo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199665464
- eISBN:
- 9780191746116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665464.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
There exists a gap between linguistics and biology, in that the degree of resolution of observations coming from the latter are completely mismatched relative to the extremely detailed analyses of ...
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There exists a gap between linguistics and biology, in that the degree of resolution of observations coming from the latter are completely mismatched relative to the extremely detailed analyses of the former. Besides, linguistic analyses usually contain complex technicalities motivated by theory-internal reasons, which have very little to do with an explication of the Faculty of Language (FL) from a true naturalistic stance. The impact of these considerations on the evolutionary study of language is clear: how could such a complex and intricate system as FL, with no obvious connections with the cognition of other species, have evolved and in such little time as language seems to have been around? The starting point of this book is the identification of a level of analysis that the authors consider “neutral” between those traditionally considered by linguists and biologists and that can favor the development of biolinguistics as a fruitful discipline.Less
There exists a gap between linguistics and biology, in that the degree of resolution of observations coming from the latter are completely mismatched relative to the extremely detailed analyses of the former. Besides, linguistic analyses usually contain complex technicalities motivated by theory-internal reasons, which have very little to do with an explication of the Faculty of Language (FL) from a true naturalistic stance. The impact of these considerations on the evolutionary study of language is clear: how could such a complex and intricate system as FL, with no obvious connections with the cognition of other species, have evolved and in such little time as language seems to have been around? The starting point of this book is the identification of a level of analysis that the authors consider “neutral” between those traditionally considered by linguists and biologists and that can favor the development of biolinguistics as a fruitful discipline.
Cedric Boeckx and Juan Uriagereka
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262201742
- eISBN:
- 9780262295246
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262201742.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter focuses on biolinguistics and how it seeks to uncover the laws that determine the nature of the faculty of language, the principles behind its development, and the ways in which it is ...
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This chapter focuses on biolinguistics and how it seeks to uncover the laws that determine the nature of the faculty of language, the principles behind its development, and the ways in which it is put to use. The main goal of biolinguists is to contribute to our understanding of how such a capacity is realized in neural terms, and even how it evolved in the species. In biolinguistic terms, language can be referred to as “I-language,” where I- signifies individual, internalist, and intensional. Individual and internalist, because the faculty of language obviously resides inside someone’s head. Intensional, because one of the key, and still very surprising, properties of human language is a kind of infinity—our faculty of language makes it possible to produce and understand an unbounded range of expressions, in principle.Less
This chapter focuses on biolinguistics and how it seeks to uncover the laws that determine the nature of the faculty of language, the principles behind its development, and the ways in which it is put to use. The main goal of biolinguists is to contribute to our understanding of how such a capacity is realized in neural terms, and even how it evolved in the species. In biolinguistic terms, language can be referred to as “I-language,” where I- signifies individual, internalist, and intensional. Individual and internalist, because the faculty of language obviously resides inside someone’s head. Intensional, because one of the key, and still very surprising, properties of human language is a kind of infinity—our faculty of language makes it possible to produce and understand an unbounded range of expressions, in principle.
Sergio Balari and Guillermo Lorenzo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199665464
- eISBN:
- 9780191746116
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665464.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This is a book about language as a species-typical trait of humans. Linguists customarily describe it as an extremely exceptional capacity, even when compared with the biological endowment of closely ...
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This is a book about language as a species-typical trait of humans. Linguists customarily describe it as an extremely exceptional capacity, even when compared with the biological endowment of closely related species, and this is the source of the many quarrels that exist around the aim of explaining its evolutionary origins. This book argues that language is not so exceptional after all, as according to the text it is just the human version of a rather common and conservative organic system that they refer to as the Central Computational Complex. The book argues that inter-specific variation of this organ is restricted to (i) accessible memory resources, and (ii) patterns of external connectivity, both being the result of perturbations in the system underlying its development. The book thus offers a fresh perspective on language as a naturally evolved phenomenon.Less
This is a book about language as a species-typical trait of humans. Linguists customarily describe it as an extremely exceptional capacity, even when compared with the biological endowment of closely related species, and this is the source of the many quarrels that exist around the aim of explaining its evolutionary origins. This book argues that language is not so exceptional after all, as according to the text it is just the human version of a rather common and conservative organic system that they refer to as the Central Computational Complex. The book argues that inter-specific variation of this organ is restricted to (i) accessible memory resources, and (ii) patterns of external connectivity, both being the result of perturbations in the system underlying its development. The book thus offers a fresh perspective on language as a naturally evolved phenomenon.
David J. Lobina
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- July 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198785156
- eISBN:
- 9780191827235
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198785156.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book provides a comprehensive account of the role of recursion in language in two distinct but interconnected ways. First, it examines how recursion applies at different levels within a full ...
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This book provides a comprehensive account of the role of recursion in language in two distinct but interconnected ways. First, it examines how recursion applies at different levels within a full description of natural language. Specifically, it identifies and evaluates recursion as: a) a central property of the computational system underlying the faculty of language; b) a possible feature of the derivations yielded by this computational system; c) a global characteristic of the structures generated by the language faculty; and d) a probable factor in the parsing operations employed during the processing of recursive structures. Secondly, the volume orders these different levels into a tripartite explanatory framework. According to this framework, the investigation of any particular cognitive domain must begin by first outlining what sort of mechanical procedure underlies the relevant capacity (including what sort of structures it generates). Only then, it argues, can we properly investigate its implementation, both at the level of abstract computations typical of competence-level analyses, and at the level of the real-time processing of behaviour.Less
This book provides a comprehensive account of the role of recursion in language in two distinct but interconnected ways. First, it examines how recursion applies at different levels within a full description of natural language. Specifically, it identifies and evaluates recursion as: a) a central property of the computational system underlying the faculty of language; b) a possible feature of the derivations yielded by this computational system; c) a global characteristic of the structures generated by the language faculty; and d) a probable factor in the parsing operations employed during the processing of recursive structures. Secondly, the volume orders these different levels into a tripartite explanatory framework. According to this framework, the investigation of any particular cognitive domain must begin by first outlining what sort of mechanical procedure underlies the relevant capacity (including what sort of structures it generates). Only then, it argues, can we properly investigate its implementation, both at the level of abstract computations typical of competence-level analyses, and at the level of the real-time processing of behaviour.
Robert Truswell
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199577774
- eISBN:
- 9780191725319
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577774.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Semantics and Pragmatics
This chapter concludes by returning to the four puzzles introduced in Chapter 1. These puzzles continue to look outlandish from the perspective of syntactic locality theory, but have found ...
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This chapter concludes by returning to the four puzzles introduced in Chapter 1. These puzzles continue to look outlandish from the perspective of syntactic locality theory, but have found straightforward explanations in terms of the interface-based locality theory developed here. The conclusion stresses that this is as expected on one conception of minimalism: a stripped-down syntactic architecture places heavier explanatory burdens on the interfaces with other cognitive systems. The greater the independence of these other cognitive systems from narrow syntax, the smaller, and more minimal, syntax can be.Less
This chapter concludes by returning to the four puzzles introduced in Chapter 1. These puzzles continue to look outlandish from the perspective of syntactic locality theory, but have found straightforward explanations in terms of the interface-based locality theory developed here. The conclusion stresses that this is as expected on one conception of minimalism: a stripped-down syntactic architecture places heavier explanatory burdens on the interfaces with other cognitive systems. The greater the independence of these other cognitive systems from narrow syntax, the smaller, and more minimal, syntax can be.
