Description
Book SynopsisLanguage, apart from its cultural and social dimension, has a scientific side that is connected not only to the study of ''grammar'' in a more or less traditional sense, but also to disciplines like mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. This book explores developments in linguistic theory, looking in particular at the theory of generative grammar from the perspective of the natural sciences. It highlights the complex and dynamic nature of language, suggesting that a comprehensive and full understanding of such a species-specific property will only be achieved through interdisciplinary work.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Ángel J. Gallego and Roger Martin; Part I. The Computational Component: 1. Deriving multiple 'object' constructions Tonia Bleam and Norbert Hornstein; 2. Verbal complex formation and overt subjects in infinitival complexes in Romance Francisco Ordóñez; 3. Two families of questions Howard Lasnik; 4. Context sensitive aspects of constituent negation Ricardo Etxepare and Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria; 5. Phasehood and Romance adverbial because-clauses Esther Torrego; 6. No-choice parameters, phi-features and the structure of DP Ian Roberts; Part II. Interfaces: 7. Linearizing chains at LF Jairo Nunes; 8. On the rationality of grammar Wolfram Hinzen; 9. The warped forge Pablo Bustos and Juan Romero; 10. Limiting semantic types Paul Pietroski; 11. Why is phonology different? No recursion William Idsardi; 12. Nothing in linguistics makes sense except in the light of change David Lightfoot; 13. Neurology and experience: the language organ and externalization Carlos P. Otero; Part III. Linguistics and Other Sciences: 14. My head's in knots: on Uriagereka's generalization and the knot-sentence connection Sergio Balari, Antonio Benítez-Burraco, Marta Camps, Víctor M. Longa and Guillermo Lorenzo; 15. (Neural) syntax Cedric Boeckx and Constantina Theofanopoulou; 16. Syntax and uncertainty Douglas Saddy; 17. The Golden phrase: steps to the physics of language Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini and David Medeiros; 18. Science, mind, and limits of understanding Noam Chomsky.
