On the goals of theoretical linguistics

Abstract We review some of the main goals of theoretical linguistics in the tradition of Generative Grammar: description, evolvability and learnability. We evaluate recent efforts to address these goals, culminating with the Minimalist Program. We suggest that the most prominent versions of the Minimalist Program represent just one possible approach to addressing these goals, and not a particularly illuminating one in many respects. Some desirable features of an alternative minimalist theory are the dissociation between syntax and linear order, the emphasis on representational economy (i.e. Simpler Syntax) and an extra-grammatical account of non-local constraints (e.g. islands). We conclude with the outline of an alternative minimalist perspective that we believe points to more satisfactory accounts of the observed phenomena.We review some of the main goals of theoretical linguistics in the tradition of Generative Grammar: description, evolvability and learnability. We evaluate recent efforts to address these goals, culminating with the Minimalist Program. We suggest that the most prominent versions of the Minimalist Program represent just one possible approach to addressing these goals, and not a particularly illuminating one in many respects. Some desirable features of an alternative minimalist theory are the dissociation between syntax and linear order, the emphasis on representational economy (i.e. Simpler Syntax) and an extra-grammatical account of non-local constraints (e.g. islands). We conclude with the outline of an alternative minimalist perspective that we believe points to more satisfactory accounts of the observed phenomena.Peer Reviewe

Flat structure: a minimalist program for syntax

We explore the possibility of assuming largely flat syntactic structures in Simpler Syntax, suggesting that these are plausible alternatives to conventional hierarchical structures. We consider the implications of flat structure for analyses of various linguistic phenomena in English, including heavy NP shift, extraposition, topicalization and constituent order variation in the VP. We also sketch a general strategy to circumvent some of the problems flat structure is said to cause for semantic interpretation. Our proposals eliminate the need for movement, unpronounced copies and feature-bearing nodes postulated to trigger syntactic operations. We assume the Parallel Architecture and use declarative schemas to establish direct correspondences between phonology on the one hand and syntactic and semantic structures on the other. The resulting picture is one in which narrow syntax can be relatively stable across languages and constructions, largely reflecting the structure of human thought, and the main source of linguistic variation is the linearization of conceptual and syntactic structures. Unlike other minimalist theories that reach a similar conclusion, the theory we propose takes mappings to phonology to be central to the architecture of grammar.Peer Reviewe

Morphological Complexity Outside of Universal Grammar

There are many logical possibilities for marking morphological features. However only some of them are attested in languages of the world, and out of them some are more frequent than others. For example, it has been observed (Sapir 1921; Greenberg 1957; Hawkins & Gilligan 1988) that inflectional morphology tends to overwhelmingly involve suffixation rather than prefixation. This paper proposes an explanation for this asymmetry in terms of acquisition complexity. The complexity measure is based on the Levenshtein edit distance, modified to reflect human memory limitations and the fact that language occurs in time. This measure produces some interesting predictions: for example, it predicts correctly the prefix-suffix asymmetry and shows mirror image morphology to be virtually impossible

The Radical Unacceptability Hypothesis: Accounting for Unacceptability without Universal Constraints

The Radical Unacceptability Hypothesis (RUH) has been proposed as a way of explaining the unacceptability of extraction from islands and frozen structures. This hypothesis explicitly assumes a distinction between unacceptability due to violations of local well-formedness conditions—conditions on constituency, constituent order, and morphological form—and unacceptability due to extra-grammatical factors. We explore the RUH with respect to classical islands, and extend it to a broader range of phenomena, including freezing, A′ chain interactions, zero-relative clauses, topic islands, weak crossover, extraction from subjects and parasitic gaps, and sensitivity to information structure. The picture that emerges is consistent with the RUH, and suggests more generally that the unacceptability of extraction from otherwise well-formed configurations reflects non-syntactic factors, not principles of grammar.Peer Reviewe

Basics of Language for Language Learners

Second editionTools and Strategies for Language Learning -- Sounding Like a Native Speaker -- Thinking Like a Native Speaker -- Acting Like a Native SpeakerItem not openly available