Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of Language

Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of Language PDF Author: Milan Rezac
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048196981
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
This monograph investigates the modular architecture of language through the nature of "uninterpretable" phi-features: person, number, gender, and Case. It provides new tools and evidence for the modular architecture of the human language faculty, a foundational topic of linguistic research. At the same time it develops a new theory for one of the core issues posed by the Minimalist Program: the relationship of syntax to its interfaces and the nature of uninterpretable features. The work sets out to establish a new cross-linguistic phenomenon to study the foregoing, person-governed last-resort repairs, which provides new insights into the nature of ergative/accusative Case and of Case licensing itself. This is the first monograph that explicitly addresses the syntactic vs. morphological status of uninterpretable phi-features and their relationship to interface systems in a similar way, drawing on person-based interactions among arguments as key data-base.

Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of Language

Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of Language PDF Author: Milan Rezac
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048196981
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Get Book Here

Book Description
This monograph investigates the modular architecture of language through the nature of "uninterpretable" phi-features: person, number, gender, and Case. It provides new tools and evidence for the modular architecture of the human language faculty, a foundational topic of linguistic research. At the same time it develops a new theory for one of the core issues posed by the Minimalist Program: the relationship of syntax to its interfaces and the nature of uninterpretable features. The work sets out to establish a new cross-linguistic phenomenon to study the foregoing, person-governed last-resort repairs, which provides new insights into the nature of ergative/accusative Case and of Case licensing itself. This is the first monograph that explicitly addresses the syntactic vs. morphological status of uninterpretable phi-features and their relationship to interface systems in a similar way, drawing on person-based interactions among arguments as key data-base.

A Guide to Morphosyntax-phonology Interface Theories

A Guide to Morphosyntax-phonology Interface Theories PDF Author: Tobias Scheer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110238624
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 902

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Book Description
This book reviews the history of the interface between morpho-syntax and phonology roughly since World War II. Structuralist and generative interface thinking is presented chronologically, but also theory by theory from the point of view of a historically interested observer who however in the last third of the book distills lessons in order to assess present-day interface theories, and to establish a catalogue of properties that a correct interface theory should or must not have. The book also introduces modularity, the rationalist theory of the (human) cognitive system that underlies the generative approach to language, from a Cognitive Science perspective. Modularity is used as a referee for interface theories in the book. Finally, the book locates the interface debate in the landscape of current minimalist syntax and phase theory and fosters intermodular argumentation: how can we use properties of morpho-syntactic theory in order to argue for or against competing theories of phonology (and vice-versa)?

Modularity in Language

Modularity in Language PDF Author: Etsuyo Yuasa
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110197529
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
In Modularity in Language, Etsuyo Yuasa investigates exceptions and idiosyncrasies in various complex clauses in Japanese and English within the framework of multi-modular approaches to grammar. She proposes original analyses of various complex clauses in Japanese and English, which deviate from the norms of other complex clauses in the same language or in other languages, and shows how these cases of syntax-semantics mismatch justify the independence (or 'autonomy') of different levels of grammatical structures. Yuasa's significant contribution is the incorporation of the notion of 'construction' from Construction Grammar into multi-modular approaches to grammar. She claims that the idiosyncratic cases examined in this study are instances of constructional and categorial mismatches where a syntactic representation of a prototypical construction is paired with a semantic representation of another prototypical construction. Modularity in Language is aimed at those interested in grammatical theories in general, the parallel architecture of grammar (including Lexical-Functional Grammar, Autolexical Grammar, Representational Modularity), Constructional Grammar, syntax/semantics interface, and Japanese linguistics.

Grammar in Mind and Brain

Grammar in Mind and Brain PDF Author: Paul D. Deane
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110886537
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description


Biological Foundations and Origin of Syntax

Biological Foundations and Origin of Syntax PDF Author: Derek Bickerton
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549123
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
Interdisciplinary perspectives on the evolutionary and biological roots of syntax, describing current research on syntax in fields ranging from linguistics to neurology. Syntax is arguably the most human-specific aspect of language. Despite the proto-linguistic capacities of some animals, syntax appears to be the last major evolutionary transition in humans that has some genetic basis. Yet what are the elements to a scenario that can explain such a transition? In this book, experts from linguistics, neurology and neurobiology, cognitive psychology, ecology and evolutionary biology, and computer modeling address this question. Unlike most previous work on the evolution of language, Biological Foundations and Origin of Syntax follows through on a growing consensus among researchers that language can be profitably separated into a number of related and interacting but largely autonomous functions, each of which may have a distinguishable evolutionary history and neurological base. The contributors argue that syntax is such a function.The book describes the current state of research on syntax in different fields, with special emphasis on areas in which the findings of particular disciplines might shed light on problems faced by other disciplines. It defines areas where consensus has been established with regard to the nature, infrastructure, and evolution of the syntax of natural languages; summarizes and evaluates contrasting approaches in areas that remain controversial; and suggests lines for future research to resolve at least some of these disputed issues. Contributors Andrea Baronchelli, Derek Bickerton, Dorothy V. M. Bishop, Denis Bouchard, Robert Boyd, Jens Brauer, Ted Briscoe, David Caplan, Nick Chater, Morten H. Christiansen, Terrence W.Deacon, Francesco d'Errico, Anna Fedor, Julia Fischer, Angela D. Friederici, Tom Givón, Thomas Griffiths, Balázs Gulyás, Peter Hagoort, Austin Hilliard, James R. Hurford, Péter Ittzés, Gerhard Jäger, Herbert Jäger, Edith Kaan, Simon Kirby, Natalia L. Komarova, Tatjana Nazir, Frederick Newmeyer, Kazuo Okanoya, Csaba Plèh, Peter J. Richerson, Luigi Rizzi, Wolf Singer, Mark Steedman, Luc Steels, Szabolcs Számadó, Eörs Szathmáry, Maggie Tallerman, Jochen Triesch, Stephanie Ann White

Sentence Comprehension

Sentence Comprehension PDF Author: David J. Townsend
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262700801
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
Using sentence comprehension as a case study for all of cognitive science, David Townsend and Thomas Bever offer an integration of two major approaches, the symbolic-computational and the associative-connectionist. The symbolic-computational approach emphasizes the formal manipulation of symbols that underlies creative aspects of language behavior. The associative-connectionist approach captures the intuition that most behaviors consist of accumulated habits. The authors argue that the sentence is the natural level at which associative and symbolic information merge during comprehension. The authors develop and support an analysis-by-synthesis model that integrates associative and symbolic information in sentence comprehension. This integration resolves problems each approach faces when considered independently. The authors review classic and contemporary symbolic and associative theories of sentence comprehension, and show how recent developments in syntactic theory fit well with the integrated analysis-by-synthesis model. They offer analytic, experimental, and neurological evidence for their model and discuss its implications for broader issues in cognitive science, including the logical necessity of an integration of symbolic and connectionist approaches in the field.

The Antisymmetry of Syntax

The Antisymmetry of Syntax PDF Author: Richard S. Kayne
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262611077
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
It is standardly assumed that Universal Grammar (UG) allows a given hierarchical representation to be associated with more than one linear order. This book proposes a restrictive theory of word order and phrase structure that denies this assumption. According to this theory, phrase structure always completely determines linear order, so that if two phrases differ in linear order, they must also differ in hierarchical structure. It is standardly assumed that Universal Grammar (UG) allows a given hierarchical representation to be associated with more than one linear order. For example, English and Japanese phrases consisting of a verb and its complement are thought of as symmetrical to one another, differing only in linear order. The Antisymmetry of Syntax proposes a restrictive theory of word order and phrase structure that denies this assumption. According to this theory, phrase structure always completely determines linear order, so that if two phrases differ in linear order, they must also differ in hierarchical structure. More specifically, Richard Kayne shows that asymmetric c-command invariably maps into linear precedence. From this follows, with few further hypotheses, a highly specific theory of word order in UG: that complement positions must always follow their associated head, and that specifiers and adjoined elements must always precede the phrase that they are sister to. A further result is that standard X-bar theory is not a primitive component of UG. Rather, X-bar theory expresses a set of antisymmetric properties of phrase structure. This antisymmetry is inherited from the more basic antisymmetry of linear order. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 25

Microvariation in Syntactic Doubling

Microvariation in Syntactic Doubling PDF Author: Lambertus Christiaan Jozef Barbiers
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1848550200
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
Contains seventeen papers on microvariation in syntactic doubling. This work provides an overview of the syntactic doubling phenomena attested and of the theoretical analyses available. It discusses the syntactic doubling phenomena including, among others, subject pronoun doubling, WH pronoun doubling, clitic doubling and auxiliary doubling.

Microvariation in Syntactic Doubling

Microvariation in Syntactic Doubling PDF Author: Sjef Barbiers
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1848550219
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
Contains seventeen papers on microvariation in syntactic doubling. This work provides an overview of the syntactic doubling phenomena attested and of the theoretical analyses available. It discusses the syntactic doubling phenomena including, among others, subject pronoun doubling, WH pronoun doubling, clitic doubling and auxiliary doubling.

Between Syntax and Semantics

Between Syntax and Semantics PDF Author: C.T. James Huang
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135217580
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 487

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Book Description
This indispensable volume contains articles that represent the best of Huang's work on the syntax-semantics interface over the last two decades. It includes three general topics: (a) questions, indefinites and quantification, (b) anaphora, (c) lexical structure and the syntax of events.