Where, If Anywhere, Are Parameters? a Critical Historical Overview of Parametric Theory Frederick J
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Why Is Language Typology Possible?
Why is language typology possible? Martin Haspelmath 1 Languages are incomparable Each language has its own system. Each language has its own categories. Each language is a world of its own. 2 Or are all languages like Latin? nominative the book genitive of the book dative to the book accusative the book ablative from the book 3 Or are all languages like English? 4 How could languages be compared? If languages are so different: What could be possible tertia comparationis (= entities that are identical across comparanda and thus permit comparison)? 5 Three approaches • Indeed, language typology is impossible (non- aprioristic structuralism) • Typology is possible based on cross-linguistic categories (aprioristic generativism) • Typology is possible without cross-linguistic categories (non-aprioristic typology) 6 Non-aprioristic structuralism: Franz Boas (1858-1942) The categories chosen for description in the Handbook “depend entirely on the inner form of each language...” Boas, Franz. 1911. Introduction to The Handbook of American Indian Languages. 7 Non-aprioristic structuralism: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) “dans la langue il n’y a que des différences...” (In a language there are only differences) i.e. all categories are determined by the ways in which they differ from other categories, and each language has different ways of cutting up the sound space and the meaning space de Saussure, Ferdinand. 1915. Cours de linguistique générale. 8 Example: Datives across languages cf. Haspelmath, Martin. 2003. The geometry of grammatical meaning: semantic maps and cross-linguistic comparison 9 Example: Datives across languages 10 Example: Datives across languages 11 Non-aprioristic structuralism: Peter H. Matthews (University of Cambridge) Matthews 1997:199: "To ask whether a language 'has' some category is...to ask a fairly sophisticated question.. -
ED332504.Pdf
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 332 504 FL 018 885 AUTHOR Davison, Alice, Ed.; Eckert, Penelope, Ed. TITLE Women in the Linguistics Profession: The Cornell Lectures. Conference on Women in Linguistics (Ithaca, New York, June 1989). INSTITUTION Linguirtic Society of America, Washington, D.C. SPONS AGENCY National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 90 CONTRACT NSF-88-00534 NOTE 268p.; Produced by the Committee on the Status of Women in Linguistics. PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Administrator Attitudes; *Cultural Isolation; Deans; Doctoral Dissertations; *Employment Patterns; English Departments; *Females; Graduate Study; Higher Education; :,;tellectual Disciplines; *Linguistics; Mentors; Scnolarship; *Sex Bias; F.exual Harassment; Tenure; Trend Analysis; *Women Fulty; Work Environment ABSTRACT Papers on women in linguistics are presented in five groups. An introductory section contains: "Feminist Linguistics:A Whirlwind Tour"; "Women in Linguistics: The Legacy of Institutionalization"; "Reflections on Women in Linguistics";and "The Structure of the Field and Its Consequences forWomen." Papers on trends and data include: "The Status of Women in Linguistics"; "The Representation of Women in Linguistics, 1989"; and"Women in Linguistics: Recent Trends." A section on problems and theirsources includes: "How Dick and Jane Got Tenure: Women and UniversityCulture 1989"; "Success and Failure: Expectations andAttributions"; "Personal and Professional Networks"; "Sexual Harassmentand the University -
Curriculum Vitae: Bruce P. Hayes
Curriculum Vitae: Bruce P. Hayes Address: Department of Linguistics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/ Telephone: (310) 825-9507 (office) (310) 825-0634 (Linguistics Dept.) Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976-1980, Ph.D., Linguistics Harvard University, 1973-1976, B.A. cum laude, Linguistics and Applied Mathematics Employment Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Linguistics, UCLA, 2012- history: Professor, Dept. of Linguistics, UCLA, 1989- Associate Professor, Dept. of Linguistics, UCLA, 1985-1989 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Linguistics, UCLA, 1981-1985 Lecturer, Dept. of Linguistics, Yale University, 1980-1981 UCLA Linguistics 1 “Introduction to Language” courses Linguistics 20 “Introduction to Linguistics” taught: Linguistics 88B “Linguistics and Verse Structure” Linguistics 103 “Introduction to General Phonetics” Linguistics 120A “Phonology I” Linguistics 191 “Metrics” Linguistics 200A “Phonological Theory I” Linguistics 201 “Phonological Theory II” Linguistics 205 “Morphology” Linguistics 210 “Field Methods” (with Paul Schachter) Linguistics 251 “The Phonology of Syllables and Stress” Linguistics 251 “CV Phonology” Linguistics 251 “The Metrical Theory of Stress” Linguistics 251 “Lexical Phonology” Linguistics 251 “Segment Structure” Linguistics 251 “The Syntax-Phonology Interface” Linguistics 251 “Phonetic Rules” Linguistics 251 “Intonation” Linguistics 251 “Metrics” Linguistics 251 “Phonetically-Driven Optimality-Theoretic Phonology” -
Interview with Noam Chomsky
INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY Alessandro Boechat de Medeiros1 Avram Noam Chomsky is a world-renowned linguist, philosopher and political activist. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and recently became a laureate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of Arizona. He has been the leader of the generative enterprise in linguistic theory since its beginning, in the late fifties, and is considered by many the father of modern Linguistics. In fact, his views have influenced the whole field and established points of departure for research in formal syntax, phonology and even semantics. Born in Philadelphia, in 1928, Chomsky started his undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Philadelphia, in 1945. He concluded his Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1955, under the supervision of Zellig Harris, at the same University, with the thesis The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, a revolutionary work only published in 1975. Two years later, in 1957, he published Syntactic Structures (SS), one of his most famous linguistics books, considered by many a true revolution in the field. SS was in part based on The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, and exerted a great influence during late fifties and early sixties among language scholars, defining to a great extent linguistics research developed in the years to come. In 1959 he published his famous review of B. F. Skinner’s book Verbal Behavior. The review presents a frontal and exhaustive critique of the behaviorist theory in a general way and also focally regarding language. Chomsky had other defining theoretical debates with Philosopher Michel Foucault2 and with Psychologist Jean Piaget3. -
1. Functionalist Linguistics: Usage-Based Explanations of Language Structure
MARTIN HASPELMATH, 15 July 1. Functionalist linguistics: usage-based explanations of language structure 1. What is functionalism? prototypical representatives of "functionalism" in my sense: general: Greenberg 1966, Croft 1990, Paul 1880/1920 syntax: Givón 1984-90, Hawkins 1994, Croft 2001 morphology: Bybee 1985 phonology: Lindblom 1986, Bybee 2001 non-prototypical representatives: Foley & Van Valin 1984, Langacker 1987-91, Dik 1997 fundamental question: Why is language structure the way it is? not: How can language be acquired despite the poverty of the stimulus? primary answer: Language structure (= competence) is the way it is because it reflects constraints on language use (= performance). typically this means: because it is adapted to the needs of language users main problem: H ow can language structure "reflect" language use? There must be an evolutionary/adaptive process, perhaps involving variation and selection. 2. Two examples (A) Vowel systems: The great majority of languages have "triangular" vowel systems as in (1a) or (1b). "Horizontal" or "vertical" systems as in (2a-b) are logically perfectly possible, but unattested. (1) a. [i] [u] b. [i] [u] [a] [e] [o] [a] (2) a. [i] [I] [u] b. [I] [´] [a] This reflects a phonetic constraint on language use: Vowels should be easily distinguishable, and phonetic research has shown that [i], [u], and [a] are the three extremes in the available vowel space (e.g. Lindblom 1986). 1 (B) Implicit infinitival subjects: In many languages, the subject of certain types of complement clauses can be left unexpressed only when it is coreferential with a matrix argument: (3) a. Roberti wants [Øi/*j to arrive in time]. -
1 Minimalism Minimalism Is the Name of the Predominant Approach In
Minimalism Minimalism is the name of the predominant approach in generative linguistics today. It was first introduced by Chomsky in his work The Minimalist Program (1995) and has seen several developments and changes since. The central idea of minimalism is that a linguistic theory should contain as few non-derived assumptions as possible. Many notions that had been developed in earlier generative theory, specifically the Government & Binding theory (GB), have been abandoned, in an attempt to derive them from more basic concepts. In Chomsky's (1995) view, minimalism is an implementation of the more general Principles and Parameters model. According to this language model, the human language capacity consists of a set of universal principles combined with a set of parameters. The principles are thought to be innate, which means that every language adheres to them. The parameters can be thought of as switches that can be set in two positions. Learning the syntax of one's native language, according to Chomsky's view, is a matter of acquiring the correct parameter settings for the language. Chomsky describes syntax as a cognitive system that connects two other cognitive systems: the conceptual-intentional system and the articulatory-perceptual system. Because syntax is linked to these two systems, the syntactic model defines two interface levels, one for each of them: Phonological Form (PF) is the interface to the articulatory-perceptual system, and Logical Form (LF) is the interface to the conceptual-intentional system. The grammar model is built up as follows: a clause is derived by selecting a set of lexical items from the lexicon. -
Generative Linguistics Within the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Alec Marantz
Generative linguistics within the cognitive neuroscience of language Alec Marantz Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT Standard practice in linguistics often obscures the connection between theory and data, leading some to the conclusion that generative linguistics could not serve as the basis for a cognitive neuroscience of language. Here the foundations and methodology of generative grammar are clarified with the goal of explaining how generative theory already functions as a reasonable source of hypotheses about the representation and computation of language in the mind and brain. The claims of generative theory, as exemplified, e.g., within Chomsky’s (2000) Minimalist Program, are contrasted with those of theories endorsing parallel architectures with independent systems of generative phonology, syntax and semantics. The single generative engine within Minimalist approaches rejects dual routes to linguistic representations, including possible extra-syntactic strategies for semantic structure-building. Clarification of the implications of this property of generative theory undermines the foundations of an autonomous psycholinguistics, as established in the 1970’s, and brings linguistic theory back to the center of a unified cognitive neuroscience of language. 2 1. The place of linguistics* The first decade of the 21st century should be a golden era for the cognitive neuroscience of language. Fifty years of contemporary linguistic analysis of language can be coupled with a wide range of brain imaging and brain monitoring machines to test hypotheses and refine theory and understanding. However, there is still a gulf between mainstream linguistics within the generative linguistic tradition and most of those engaged in experimental cognitive neuroscience research. Some have argued that the fault here lies with the linguists, whose generative theories are based in principle on separating the study of linguistic representations from research on the acquisition and use of language in the minds and brains of speakers. -
Expert Judgment on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion Into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
SANDIA REPORT SAND92–1382 ● UC–721 Unlimited Release Printed November 1993 Expert Judgment on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Kathleen M. Trauth, Stephen C. Hera, Robert V. Guzowsti Prepared by Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 and Livermore, California 94550 for the United Statea Department of Energy under Contract DE-ACO&94AL85000 ______ . ., ,, ,, Issuedby SandiaNationalLaboratories,operatedfortheUnitedStates DepartmentofEnergyby SandiaCorporation. NOTICE Thisreportwaspreparedasanaccountofworksponsoredbyan agencyoftheUnitedStatesGovernment.NeithertheUnitedStatesGovern- ment noranyagencythereof,noranyoftheiremployees,noranyoftheir contractors,subcontractors,ortheiremployees,makesanywarranty,express orimplied,orassumesanylegalliabilityorresponsibilityfortheaccuracy, completeness,or usefulnessof any information,apparatusproduct,or processdisclosed,orrepresentsthatitsusewouldnotinfringeprivately ownedrights.Referencehereintoanyspecificcommercialproduct,process,or serviceby tradename,trademark,manufacturer,or otherwise,doesnot necessarilyconstituteorimplyitaendorsement,recommendation,orfavoring by the UnitedStatesGovernment,any agencythereofor any of their contractorsorsubcontractors.The viewsand opinionsexpressedhereindo notnecessarilystateorreflectthoseoftheUnitedStatesGovernment,any agencythereoforanyoftheircontractors. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.Thisreporthasbeenreproduced directlyfromthebestavailablecopy. AvailabletoDOE andDOE contractorsfrom OfficeofScientificandTechnicalInformation -
Features from Aspects Via the Minimalist Program to Combinatory Categorial Grammar
Á. Gallego & D. Ott (eds.). 2015. 50 Years Later: Reflections on Chomsky’s Aspects. Cambridge, MA: MITWPL. Available for purchase at http://mitwpl.mit.edu © The Authors FEATURES FROM ASPECTS VIA THE MINIMALIST PROGRAM TO COMBINATORY CATEGORIAL GRAMMAR NEIL SMITH ANNABEL CORMACK University College London 1 Background One major contribution of Aspects (Chomsky 1965)1 was to initiate the development of a theory of syntactic features. There is no use of features, either syntactic or morphophonemic, in Chomsky’s earliest work The Morphophonemics of Modern Hebrew (1951/79); they do not appear in his monumental The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory (1955/75); nor in Syntactic Structures (1957) (except for category labels); nor, except for phonological distinctive features, in Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (1964). In Aspects features play a crucial role. Chomsky suggests (p.214) that “We might, then, take a lexical entry to be simply a set of features, some syntactic, some phonological, some semantic”. But even here the use of features was somewhat haphazard, apparently unconstrained, and a terminological mess. In this contribution we want to trace – in broad outline – the development of a theory of morphosyntactic features and propose a fully Merge-based and parsimonious version of such a theory. Our work is intended as a contribution to Chomsky’s Minimalist Program, pursuing the same ends on the basis of some different background assumptions. These assumptions and the specific analyses derived from them have been developed using an austere version of Combinatorial Categorial Grammar, but are of wider applicability. All current theories use phonological features and ‘semantic’ features which we will largely ignore except to point out that the term ‘semantic’ is used in radically different ways to cover truth-theoretic, conceptual or encyclopaedic distinctions. -
Movement in Minimalism, Class 2: Linearization and the Problem of Copies July 11, LSA Summer Institute 2017
Movement in Minimalism, Class 2: Linearization and the problem of copies July 11, LSA Summer Institute 2017 This class: . We discuss Nunes’s (1995, 2004) proposal that copy deletion derives from the demands of the linearization algorithm at PF . We look at cases for which a copy theory has an advantage over a trace theory, involving multiple spell-out in predicate clefting/V-fronting constructions as well as wh-copying . We examine exceptional cases of copy spell-out, including deletion of the highest copy and scattered deletion 1 Two approaches to copy deletion As we discussed last week, Merge provides us with a single structure-building mechanism. Merge can create long-distance dependencies as long as we adopt the Copy Theory of Movement: (1) Which book did you read which book? CP DP C’ which book did TP you T’ did VP read which book However, getting rid of traces in this way means that we need to posit a rule of copy deletion. But where does copy deletion come from? 1.1 Three sources of wellformedness constraints In the Minimalist Program, constraints on wellformedness have only three possible sources: 1. Constraints on the PF interface 2. Constraints on the LF interface 3. Natural principles of computation, often referred to as “economy constraints” =) Copy deletion too should derive from one of these sources. 1 Two of these options have been explored in previous work, and we will discuss them this week: 1. Copy deletion as a result of linearization at PF (Nunes 1995, 2004; cf. Fox and Pesetsky 2005; Johnson 2012): . -
The Development of Minimalist Syntax
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MINIMALIST SYNTAX Timothy Hawes Northeastern University Senior Honors Project Dec, 15 2005 Introduction Many animals communicate with sounds and signs. Birds have elaborate songs to attract mates, some monkeys have special warning cries for different threats and some animals have even been taught to communicate with people using limited vocabularies of signed or spoken words. Each of these forms of communication represents some sort of paring between sound (or actions) and meaning. However, all of these forms of communication differ from human language in one very important feature, productivity. Not only can humans produce sounds that have abstract relations to meanings, but humans have a system of language that is both hierarchically organized and recursive, thus making it infinitely productive. As the only species on earth with language in this sense, it seems logical to conclude that there must be some sort of biological basis for this property. Though the degree to which language is biologically specified has been argued for many years now, it has been generally agreed that there is something specific to humans that gives them the ability to produce language. This special property is known as the “Faculty of Language”, and has long been the object of linguistic inquiry. By studying the Faculty of Language, linguists hope not only to be able to describe languages with all of their variation, but be able to explain the basic properties of language and how children are able to acquire it so easily despite the many factors working against them. In the early 1960’s, linguists were trying to explain language acquisition and linguistic variation with the “format framework”, which relied on rules and constructions to explain grammar. -
Introduction1
1. Introduction1 Jeff Good University at Buffalo 1 Diachrony, synchrony, explanation, and universals Certain grammatical patterns are found again and again in the languages of the world. Some of these patterns recur so frequently that they are given the label “universal”. Explaining the source of such patterns is clearly an important goal of linguistics, but how to go about doing this is not obvious. Problems range from the terminological (what sort of patterns should we consider universal?) to the methodological (what kind of explanation will we accept as sufficient?) to the theoretical (what role does a universal grammar have in shaping recurrent patterns? what role do functional considerations play?). How one answers one of these questions will affect how one answers the others. Can probabilistic generalizations be considered universals? If so, then we need explanations predicting probabilistic patterns. Are we looking for proximate explanations (for example, “language A shows pattern X because it inherited it from its parent language”) or ultimate ones (for example, “language A shows pattern X because only this pattern is permitted by Universal Grammar”)? Will we assume there is no such thing as Universal Grammar? Then, of course, we cannot appeal to it for any sort of explanation. Will we assume there is such a thing? Then, what is its precise structure?2 The papers in this volume are concerned, in one way or another, with both the general problem of explaining recurrent grammatical patterns and the more particular problem of trying to understand what the relationship is between these patterns and language change. Since languages are simultaneously products of history and entities existing at particular times, it seems clear that both diachrony and synchrony have a role to play in explaining the existence of 1 “universals”, but where the division of labor lies between the two is contentious.