The Biolinguistic Enterprise

Author : Anna Maria Di Sciullo,Cedric Boeckx
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2011-03-17
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199553273

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The Biolinguistic Enterprise by Anna Maria Di Sciullo,Cedric Boeckx Pdf

This book, by leading scholars, represents some of the main work in progress in biolinguistics. It offers fresh perspectives on language evolution and variation, new developments in theoretical linguistics, and insights on the relations between variation in language and variation in biology. The authors address the Darwinian questions on the origin and evolution of language from a minimalist perspective, and provide elegant solutions to the evolutionary gap between human language and communication in all other organisms. They consider language variation in the context of current biological approaches to species diversity - the 'evo-devo revolution' - which bring to light deep homologies between organisms. In dispensing with the classical notion of syntactic parameters, the authors argue that language variation, like biodiversity, is the result of experience and thus not a part of the language faculty in the narrow sense. They also examine the nature of this core language faculty, the primary categories with which it is concerned, the operations it performs, the syntactic constraints it poses on semantic interpretation and the role of phases in bridging the gap between brain and syntax. Written in language accessible to a wide audience, The Biolinguistic Enterprise will appeal to scholars and students of linguistics, cognitive science, biology, and natural language processing.

Author : Koji Fujita,Cedric A. Boeckx
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2016-02-12
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781317486190

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Advances in Biolinguistics by Koji Fujita,Cedric A. Boeckx Pdf

Biolinguistics is a highly interdisciplinary field that seeks the rapprochement between linguistics and biology. Linking theoretical linguistics, theoretical biology, genetics, neuroscience and cognitive psychology, this book offers a collection of chapters situating the enterprise conceptually, highlighting both the promises and challenges of the field, and chapters focusing on the challenges and prospects of taking interdisciplinarity seriously. It provides concrete illustrations of some of the cutting-edge research in biolinguistics and piques the interest of undergraduate students looking for a field to major in and inspires graduate students on possible research directions. It is also meant to show to specialists in adjacent fields how a particular strand of theoretical linguistics relates to their concerns, and in so doing, the book intends to foster collaboration across disciplines. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Author : Elliot Murphy
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781291186772

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Biolinguistics and Philosophy: Insights and Obstacles by Elliot Murphy Pdf

Author : Anna Maria Di Sciullo
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 238 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2016-11-24
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027266309

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Biolinguistic Investigations on the Language Faculty by Anna Maria Di Sciullo Pdf

The papers assembled in this volume aim to contribute to our understanding of the human capacity for language: the generative procedure that relates sounds and meanings via syntax. Different hypotheses about the properties of this generative procedure are under discussion, and their connection with biology is open to important cross-disciplinary work. Advances have been made in human-animal studies to differentiate human language from animal communication. Contributions from neurosciences point to the exclusive properties of the human brain for language. Studies in genetically based language impairments also contribute to the understanding of the properties of the language organ. This volume brings together contributions on theoretical and experimental investigations on the Language Faculty. It will be of interest to scholars and students investigating the properties of the biological basis of language, in terms the modeling of the language faculty, as well as the properties of language variation, language acquisition and language impairments.

Author : Juan Uriagereka
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2018-06-14
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781351622264

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Biolinguistic Investigations and the Formal Language Hierarchy by Juan Uriagereka Pdf

This volume collects some of Juan Uriagereka’s previously published pieces and presentations on biolinguistics in recent years in one comprehensive volume. The book’s introduction lays the foundation for the field of biolinguistics, which looks to integrate concepts from the natural sciences in the analysis of natural language, situating the discussion within the minimalist framework. The volume then highlights eight of the author’s key papers from the literature, some co-authored, representative of both the architectural and evolutionary considerations to be taken into account within biolinguistic research. The book culminates in a final chapter showcasing the body of work being done on biolinguistics within the research program at the University of Maryland and their implications for interdisciplinary research and future directions for the field. This volume is essential reading for students and scholars interested in the interface between language and the natural sciences, including linguistics, syntax, biology, archaeology, and anthropology.

Author : Cedric Boeckx
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2010-04-29
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1444310054

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Language in Cognition by Cedric Boeckx Pdf

This textbook explores the ways in which language informs the structure and function of the human mind, offering a point of entry into the fascinating territory of cognitive science. Focusing mainly on syntactic issues, Language in Cognition is a unique contribution to this burgeoning field of study. Guides undergraduate students through the core questions of linguistics and cognitive science, and provides tools that will help them think about the field in a structured way Uses the study of language and how language informs the structure and function of the human mind to introduce the major ideas in modern cognitive science, including its history and controversies Explores questions such as: what does it mean to say that linguistics is part of the cognitive sciences; how do the core properties of language compare with the core properties of other human cognitive abilities such as vision, music, mathematics, and other mental building blocks; and what is the relationship between language and thought? Includes an indispensable study guide as well as extensive references to encourage further independent study

Author : Cedric Boeckx
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781107034099

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Elementary Syntactic Structures by Cedric Boeckx Pdf

This book proposes a new model of syntax, in which all the fundamental units and properties of syntax are rethought.

Author : Michael T. Putnam
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027208200

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Exploring Crash-proof Grammars by Michael T. Putnam Pdf

The Minimalist Program has advanced a research program that builds the design of human language from conceptual necessity. Seminal proposals by Frampton & Gutmann (1999, 2000, 2002) introduced the notion that an ideal syntactic theory should be crash-proof . Such a version of the Minimalist Program (or any other linguistic theory) would not permit syntactic operations to produce structures that crash . There have, however, been some recent developments in Minimalism especially those that approach linguistic theory from a biolinguistic perspective (cf. Chomsky 2005 et seq.) that have called the pursuit of a crash-proof grammar into serious question. The papers in this volume take on the daunting challenge of defining exactly what a crash is and what a crash-proof grammar would look like, and of investigating whether or not the pursuit of a crash-proof grammar is biolinguistically appealing."

Author : Antonino Pennisi,Alessandra Falzone
Publisher : Springer
Page : 301 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2016-12-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783319476889

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Darwinian Biolinguistics by Antonino Pennisi,Alessandra Falzone Pdf

This book proposes a radically evolutionary approach to biolinguistics that consists in considering human language as a form of species-specific intelligence entirely embodied in the corporeal structures of Homo sapiens. The book starts with a historical reconstruction of two opposing biolinguistic models: the Chomskian Biolinguistic Model (CBM) and the Darwinian Biolinguistic Model (DBM). The second part compares the two models and develops into a complete reconsideration of the traditional biolinguistic issues in an evolutionary perspective, highlighting their potential influence on the paradigm of biologically oriented cognitive science. The third part formulates the philosophical, evolutionary and experimental basis of an extended theory of linguistic performativity within a naturalistic perspective of pragmatics of verbal language. The book proposes a model in which the continuity between human and non-human primates is linked to the gradual development of the articulatory and neurocerebral structures, and to a kind of prelinguistic pragmatics which characterizes the common nature of social learning. In contrast, grammatical, semantic and pragmatic skills that mark the learning of historical-natural languages are seen as a rapid acceleration of cultural evolution. The book makes clear that this acceleration will not necessarily favour the long-term adaptations for Homo sapiens.

Author : Cedric Boeckx,Kleanthes K. Grohmann
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2013-02-14
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781107354531

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The Cambridge Handbook of Biolinguistics by Cedric Boeckx,Kleanthes K. Grohmann Pdf

Biolinguistics involves the study of language from a broad perspective that embraces natural sciences, helping us better to understand the fundamentals of the faculty of language. This Handbook offers the most comprehensive state-of-the-field survey of the subject available. A team of prominent scholars working in a variety of disciplines is brought together to examine language development, language evolution and neuroscience, as well as providing overviews of the conceptual landscape of the field. The Handbook includes work at the forefront of contemporary research devoted to the evidence for a language instinct, the critical period hypothesis, grammatical maturation, bilingualism, the relation between mind and brain and the role of natural selection in language evolution. It will be welcomed by graduate students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines, including linguistics, evolutionary biology and cognitive science.

Author : Lyle Jenkins
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0521003911

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Biolinguistics by Lyle Jenkins Pdf

Argues that biology plays a more central role in language acquisition than teaching or learning.

Author : Antonio Benítez-Burraco,Koji Fujita,Koji Hoshi,Ljiljana Progovac
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
Page : 164 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2021-03-30
Category : Science
ISBN : 9782889666515

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The Biology of Language Under a Minimalist Lens: Promises, Achievements, and Limits by Antonio Benítez-Burraco,Koji Fujita,Koji Hoshi,Ljiljana Progovac Pdf

Author : Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 173 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2019-10-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781498579254

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The Evolution of the Slavic Dual by Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff Pdf

The dual number in Slavic has always puzzled linguists. While some Slavic languages, such as Slovenian, have three distinct categories of number--singular (1), dual (2), and plural (3 or more) –other Slavic languages, such as Russian, have no dual number. Considering that all Slavic languages have evolved from a common Proto Slavic language, it is puzzling that there is such a difference in the category of number. In The Evolution of the Slavic Dual: A Biolinguistic Perspective, with the aid of tools from biolinguistics, Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff develops a new theory of Morphosyntactic Feature Economy within the distributed morphology framework. Using newly digitized corpora of Old East Slavic, Old Slovenian, and Old Sorbian manuscripts spanning from the eleventh century through the present time, this book presents a thorough analysis of the evolution of dual number in Slavic languages.

Author : Marc van Oostendorp,Henk van Riemsdijk
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2015-08-17
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781501502255

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Representing Structure in Phonology and Syntax by Marc van Oostendorp,Henk van Riemsdijk Pdf

Formal grammars by definition need two parts: a theory of computation (or derivation), and a theory of representation. While recent attention in mainstream syntactic and phonological theory has been devoted to the former, the papers in this volume aim to show that the importance of representational details is not diminished by the insights of such theories.

Author : Marco Pina,Nathalie Gontier
Publisher : Springer
Page : 326 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2014-05-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319026695

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The Evolution of Social Communication in Primates by Marco Pina,Nathalie Gontier Pdf

How did social communication evolve in primates? In this volume, primatologists, linguists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists and philosophers of science systematically analyze how their specific disciplines demarcate the research questions and methodologies involved in the study of the evolutionary origins of social communication in primates in general and in humans in particular. In the first part of the book, historians and philosophers of science address how the epistemological frameworks associated with primate communication and language evolution studies have changed over time and how these conceptual changes affect our current studies on the subject matter. In the second part, scholars provide cutting-edge insights into the various means through which primates communicate socially in both natural and experimental settings. They examine the behavioral building blocks by which primates communicate and they analyze what the cognitive requirements are for displaying communicative acts. Chapters highlight cross-fostering and language experiments with primates, primate mother-infant communication, the display of emotions and expressions, manual gestures and vocal signals, joint attention, intentionality and theory of mind. The primary focus of the third part is on how these various types of communicative behavior possibly evolved and how they can be understood as evolutionary precursors to human language. Leading scholars analyze how both manual and vocal gestures gave way to mimetic and imitational protolanguage and how the latter possibly transitioned into human language. In the final part, we turn to the hominin lineage, and anthropologists, archeologists and linguists investigate what the necessary neurocognitive, anatomical and behavioral features are in order for human language to evolve and how language differs from other forms of primate communication.