Abstract
This paper argues that the theory of phrase structure a certain linguistic approach assumes implies taking a stance on the formal nature of the computational procedures that generate that phrase structure. We will proceed by critically evaluating theories of phrase structure and labeling -which implies taking a structure as a unit for the purposes of further computations-, and building on and opposing to the proposals we review, we will claim that syntactic objects are not computationally uniform, and therefore the computational system in charge of establishing dependencies between symbolic objects within the mind is not uniform as well. We argue in favor of a linguistic-cognitive model which dynamically chooses different grammars based on the complexity of the input, and is capable of assigning a mixed phrase marker to an object that presents more than one computational pattern. Empirical evidence is provided in favor of our approach to phrase structure building, and further implications for a theory of labeling and predication are discussed as prolegomena to further research.
References
Adger, David. 2013. A syntax of substance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262018616.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Baltin, Mark. 2003. Is grammar Markovian? Invited forum lecture to the Korean Association of English Language and Linguistics (Korea University, Seoul). http://linguistics.as.nyu.edu/docs/IO/2637/KASELL-paper.pdf (accessed 9 February 2014).Search in Google Scholar
Blutner, Reinhard. 2000. Some aspects of optimality in natural language interpretation. Journal of Semantics 17(3). 189–216.10.1093/jos/17.3.189Search in Google Scholar
Bod, Rens. 2013. How hierarchical is language? Nijmegen Lecture, Max Planck Institute, 19 February 2013.Search in Google Scholar
Boeckx, Cedric. 2009. The nature of merge. Consequences for language, mind and biology. In Piatelli Palmarini et al. (eds.), Of minds and language, 44–57. Oxford: OUP.Search in Google Scholar
Boeckx, Cedric. 2010. Defeating lexicocentrism. Ms. http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/001130(accessed 2 February 2014. Printed as Chapter 1 of Elementary Syntactic Structures. Oxford: OUP).10.1017/CBO9781139524391Search in Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit. 2005. Structuring sense, Vol I: In name only. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263905.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit. 2013. The category of roots. Ms. Queen Mary University of London.Search in Google Scholar
Bošković, Željko. 2008. What will you have, DP or NP? http://web.uconn.edu/boskovic/papers/nels.illinois.proceedings.final.pdf (accessed 2 February 2014).Search in Google Scholar
Bouma, Goose, Rob Malouf & Ivan Sag. 2001. Satisfying constraints on adjunction and extraction. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19. 1–65.10.1023/A:1006473306778Search in Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1976. Transformations and categories in syntax. In Ronald Butts & Jaakko Hintikka (eds.), Basic problems in methodology and linguistics, 261–282. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.10.1007/978-94-017-0837-1_16Search in Google Scholar
Cecchetto, Carlo & Caterina Donati. 2010. On labeling: Principle C and head movement. Syntax 13(3). 241–278.10.1111/j.1467-9612.2010.00140.xSearch in Google Scholar
Cherniak, Christopher. 2009. Brain Wiring Optimization and Non-Genomic Nativism. In Piatelli, Palmarini, Massimo, Juan Uriagereka, and Pello Salabutu (eds.) Of Minds and Language, 108–119. Oxford: OUP.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1956. Three models for the description of language. IRE Transactions on Information Theory 2. 113–124.10.1109/TIT.1956.1056813Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1957. Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton.10.1515/9783112316009Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1959. On certain formal properties of grammars. Information and Control 2. 137–167.10.1016/S0019-9958(59)90362-6Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1963. Formal properties of grammars. In R. D. Luce, R. R. Bush & E. Galanter (eds.), Handbook of mathematical psychology, 323–418. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.21236/AD0616323Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding, Dordrecht, Foris.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Barriers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1994. Bare Phrase Structure. MIT Occasional Papers in Linguistics 5. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2000. Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In R. Martin, D. Michaels & J. Uriagereka (eds.), Step by Step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik, 89–155. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2004. Beyond explanatory adequacy. In Belletti, Adriana (ed.), Structures and beyond, 104–131. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2008. On phases. In Robert Freidin, Carlos P. Otero & María Luisa Zubizarrieta (eds.), Foundational issues in linguistic theory: Essays in honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud, 133–166. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262062787.003.0007Search in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 2013. Problems of projection. Lingua 130 Special Issue in Syntax and cognition: core ideas and results in syntax. 33–49.10.1075/la.223.01choSearch in Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam & George Miller. 1963. Introduction to the formal analysis of natural languages. In Duncan R. Luce, Robert R. Bush & Eugene Galanter (eds.), Handbook of Mathematical Psychology 2, 269–321. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Search in Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo. 1998. On clitic climbing and other transparency effects, talk given at NYU and MIT, February/March 1998.Search in Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and functional heads. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Search in Google Scholar
Collins, Chris. 1997. Local Economy. LI Monographs 29. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Collins, Chris. 2002. Eliminating labels. In S. Epstein & T. D. Seely (eds.), Derivation and explanation in the Minimalist Program, 42–61. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9780470755662.ch3Search in Google Scholar
Collins, Chris. 2014. Merge(X,Y)={X,Y}. Ms. http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/002186 accessed 23 August 2014).Search in Google Scholar
Culicover, Peter. 1999. Syntactic nuts: Hard cases in syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Culicover, Peter & Ray Jackendoff. 2005. Simpler syntax. Oxford: OUP.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199271092.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
De Belder, Marijke & Jeroen Van Craenenbroeck. 2011. How to merge a root. LingBuzz 001226. To appear in Linguistic Inquiry.Search in Google Scholar
Di Sciullo, Anna-Maria. 2011. A biolinguistic approach to variation. In A-M. Di Sciullo & C. Boeckx (eds.), The biolinguistic enterprise: New perspectives on the evolution and nature of the human language faculty, 305–326. Oxford: OUP.Search in Google Scholar
Di Sciullo, Anna-Maria & Daniela Isac. 2008. The asymmetry of merge. Biolinguistics 2(4). 260–290.10.5964/bioling.8661Search in Google Scholar
Epstein, Samuel & T. Daniel Seely (eds.). 2002. Derivation and explanation in the Minimalist Program. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9780470755662Search in Google Scholar
Epstein, Samuel & T. Daniel Seely. 2006. Derivations in minimalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511550607Search in Google Scholar
Epstein, Samuel, Erich, Groat, Robert, Kawashima & Hisatsugu, Kitahara. 1998. A Derivational Approach to Syntactic Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Escandell, Ma. & Manuel, Leonetti. 2000. Categorías Funcionales y Semántica Procedimental. In M. Martínez, et al. (eds.), Cien años de investigación semántica: de Michél Bréal a la actualidad Tomo I: 363–378. Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas.Search in Google Scholar
Gallego, Angel. 2010. Phase theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/la.152Search in Google Scholar
Gómez, Joan. 2010. Cuando las rectas se vuelven curvas. Madrid: RBA.Search in Google Scholar
Graben, Peter, Dimitris, Pinotsis, Douglas, Saddy & Roland, Potthast. 2008. Language processing with dynamic fields. Cognitive Neurodynamics 2(2). 79–88.10.1007/s11571-008-9042-4Search in Google Scholar
Green, Georgia. 2011. Elementary principles of HPSG. In R. Borsley & K. Börjars (eds.), Non-transformational syntax. Formal and explicit models of grammar, 9–53. London: Blackwell.10.1002/9781444395037.ch1Search in Google Scholar
Hale, Ken. 1983. Warlpiri and the grammar of non-configurational languages. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 1(1). 5–47.10.1007/BF00210374Search in Google Scholar
Hale, Ken & Samuel Keyser. 2002. Prolegomenon to a theory of argument structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/5634.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Hinzen, Wolfram. 2006. Mind Design and Minimal Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199289257.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Hinzen, Wolfram. 2009. Hierarchy, Merge, and Truth. In Piattelli-Palmarini, M., Uriagereka, J. & Salaburu, P. (eds.), Of minds and language: A Dialogue with Noam Chomsky in the Basque Country, 123–141. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Hockett, Charles. 1958. A course in modern linguistics. New York: Macmillan.10.1111/j.1467-1770.1958.tb00870.xSearch in Google Scholar
Hornstein, Norbert. 2009. A theory of syntax: minimal operations and universal grammar. Cambridge, MA: CUP.10.1017/CBO9780511575129Search in Google Scholar
Hornstein, Norbert & Paul Pietroski. 2009. Basic operations: Minimal syntax-semantics. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 8. 113–139.10.5565/rev/catjl.148Search in Google Scholar
Idsardi, William & Eric Raimy. in press. Three types of linearization and the temporal aspects of speech. In T. Biberauer & Ian Roberts (eds.), Principles of linearization, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar
Izard, Véronique, Pierre Pica, Elizabeth Spelke & Stanislas Dehaene. 2011. Flexible intuitions of Euclidean geometry in an Amazonian indigene group. PNAS 108(24). 9782–9787.10.1073/pnas.1016686108Search in Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1977. X’ Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 2002. Foundations of Language. Oxford: OUP.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270126.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 2011. Alternative minimalist visions of language. In R. Borsley & K. Börjars (eds.), Non-transformational syntax. Formal and explicit models of grammar, 268–296. London: Blackwell.10.1002/9781444395037.ch7Search in Google Scholar
Joshi, Aravind K. 1985. How much context-sensitivity is required to provide reasonable structural descriptions: Tree adjoining grammars. In David Dowty, Lauri Karttunen & Arnold Zwicky (eds.), Natural language parsing: Psychological, computational, and theoretical perspectives, 206–250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511597855.007Search in Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard. 1984. Connectedness and binary branching. Dordrecht: Foris.10.1515/9783111682228Search in Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard. 1994. The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Kayne, Richaed. 2011. Antisymmetry and the Lexicon. In A.-M. Di Sciullo & C. Boeckx (eds.), The biolinguistic enterprise: New perspectives on the evolution and nature of the human language faculty, 329–353. Oxford: OUP.Search in Google Scholar
Kitahara, Hisatsugu. 1997. Elementary operations and optimal derivations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Kornai, Andras. 1985. Natural language and the Chomsky hierarchy. In Proceedings of the EACL 1985, Association for Computational Linguistics. Stroudsburg: PA. 1–7.Search in Google Scholar
Kosta, Peter & Diego Krivochen. 2014. Flavors of movement: Revisiting A vs. A. In P. Kosta, S. Franks, T. Radeva-Bork & L. Schürks (eds.), Minimalism and beyond: Radicalizing the interfaces, 251–282. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/lfab.11Search in Google Scholar
Kracht, Marcus. 2003. The Mathematics of Language. Studies in Generative Grammar 63. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110895667Search in Google Scholar
Krivochen, Diego. 2011. An introduction to radical minimalism I: On merge and agree. IBERIA 3(2). 20–62.Search in Google Scholar
Krivochen, Diego. 2012. The syntax and semantics of the nominal construction. Potsdam Linguistic Investigations 8. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang Publishers.10.3726/978-3-653-01858-5Search in Google Scholar
Krivochen, Diego. 2013. On the necessity of mixed models: Dynamical Frustrations in the Mind. Ms. University of Reading.Search in Google Scholar
Krivochen, Diego. Forthcoming. Copies and tokens: Displacement revisited. To appear in Studia Linguistica.Search in Google Scholar
Krivochen, Diego & Peter, Kosta. 2013. Eliminating Empty Categories: A Radically Minimalist view on the Ontology and Justification. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.10.3726/978-3-653-02592-7Search in Google Scholar
Krivochen, Diego & Katarzyna Mathiasen. 2012. Numerals, numbers and cognition: towards a localist theory of the mind. Poster presented at Cognitive Modules and Interfaces, international workshop at SISSA, Trieste, Italy. http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/001653 (accessed 27 November 2014).Search in Google Scholar
Lasnik, Howard. 2011. What kind of computing device is the human language faculty? In A.-M. Di Sciullo & C. Boeckx (eds.), The biolinguistic enterprise: New perspectives on the evolution and nature of the human language faculty, 354–365. Oxford: OUP.Search in Google Scholar
Lasnik, Howard & Juan Uriagereka. 2011. Structure. In R. Kempson, T. Fernando & N. Asher (eds.), Handbook of philosophy of science volume 14: Philosophy of linguistics, 33–61. Elsevier.10.1016/B978-0-444-51747-0.50002-0Search in Google Scholar
Lasnik, Howard, Juan Uriagereka & Cedric Boeckx. 2005. A course in minimalist syntax. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Lebeaux, David. 2009. Where does binding theory apply? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262012904.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge: Academic Press.10.1017/CBO9781139165570Search in Google Scholar
Marr, David. 1982. Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. New York: Freeman.Search in Google Scholar
Mateu Fontanals, Jaume. 2002. Argument structure. Relational construal at the syntax-semantics interface. PhD Dissertation. Bellaterra. http://www.tesisenxarxa.net/TDX-1021103-173806/ (accessed 20 September 2012).Search in Google Scholar
Matushanski, Ora. 2006. Head-movement in linguistic theory. Linguistic Inquiry 37(1). 69–109.10.1162/002438906775321184Search in Google Scholar
Michaelis, Jens. 2001. Derivational minimalism is mildly context-sensitive. In M. Moortgat (ed.), Logical aspects of computational linguistics (LACL ’98), lecture notes in artificial intelligence, Vol. 2014, 179–198. Berlin: Springer.10.1007/3-540-45738-0_11Search in Google Scholar
Moro, Andrea. 2000. Dynamic antisymmetry. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Murphy, Elliot. 2014a. Computation and continuity in the evolution of grammar. MA dissertation, University College London.Search in Google Scholar
Murphy, Elliot. 2014b. Labels, cognition and evolution: Converging themes. Ms. University College, London.Search in Google Scholar
Panagiotidis, Phoevos. 2010. Categorial features and categorizers. Ms. University of Cyprus.10.1515/tlir.2011.010Search in Google Scholar
Panagiotidis, Phoevos. 2014. Categorial features: A generative theory of word class categories. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139811927Search in Google Scholar
Pesetsky, David & Esther Torrego. 2007. The syntax of valuation and the interpretability of features. In S. Karimi, V. Samiian & W. Wilkins (eds.), Phrasal and Clausal Architecture, 262–294. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/la.101.14pesSearch in Google Scholar
Pollard, Carl & Ivan Sag. 1994. Head-driven phrase structure grammar. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar
Progovac, Ljiljana. 1998. Structure for coordination. Glot International 3(7). 3–6.Search in Google Scholar
Progovac, Ljiljana. 1999. Events and the economy of coordination. Syntax 2(2). 141–159.10.1111/1467-9612.00018Search in Google Scholar
Prusinkiewicz, Przemyslaw & Aristid Lindenmayer. 1991. The alogirthmic beauty of plants. New York: Springer-Verlag.10.1007/978-1-4613-8476-2Search in Google Scholar
Pullum, Geoffrey K. 2011. On the mathematics of Syntactic Structures. Journal of Logic, Language and Information 20. 277–296.10.1007/s10849-011-9139-8Search in Google Scholar
Pylyshyn, Zenon. 2007. Things and places. How the mind connects with the world. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/7475.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Reinhart, Tanya. 1983. Anaphora and Semantic Interpretation. London: Croom Helm.Search in Google Scholar
Richards, Mark. 2007. Dynamic linearization and the shape of phases. Linguistic Analysis 33. 209–237.Search in Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 2009. Movement and concepts of locality. In Piatelli Palmarini et al. (eds.), Of minds and language, 155–168. Oxford: OUP.Search in Google Scholar
Ross, John Robert. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. PhD dissertation. MIT.Search in Google Scholar
Seely, T. Daniel. 2006. Merge, Derivational c-command and subcategorization in a label-free syntax. In C. Boeckx (ed.), Minimalist essays, 182–217. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/la.91.13seeSearch in Google Scholar
Shieber, Stuart. 1986. An introduction to unification-based approaches to grammar. Brookline, MA: Microtome Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Siegelmann, Hava. 1995. Computation beyond the turing limit. Science 268. 545–548.10.1007/978-1-4612-0707-8_12Search in Google Scholar
Stowell, Tim. 1981. Origins of phrase structure. PhD Diss. Cambridge, MA: MIT.Search in Google Scholar
Tegmark, Max. 2007. The Mathematical Universe. arXiv:0704.0646v2. DOI: 10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9. [Retrieved on 8/1/2015]10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan. 1998. Rhyme and reason. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan. 2002a. Multiple spell-out. In J. Uriagereka (ed.), Derivations: Exploring the dynamics of syntax, 45–65. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan. 2002b. Warps: Some thoughts on categorization. In J. Uriagereka (ed.), Derivations: Exploring the dynamics of syntax, 288–317. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan. 2005. A Markovian syntax for adjuncts. Ms. UMD.Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan. 2008. Syntactic anchors: On semantic restructuring. Cambridge: CUP.10.1017/CBO9780511481482Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan. 2012. Spell-out and the minimalist program. Oxford: OUP.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199593521.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan & Paul Pietroski. 2002. Dimensions of natural language. In J. Uriagereka (ed.), Derivations: Exploring the dynamics of syntax, 266–287. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Watumull, Jeffrey. 2014. A turing program for linguistic theory. Biolinguistics 6(2). 222–245.10.5964/bioling.8907Search in Google Scholar
Watumull, Jeffrey, Marc Hauser, Ian Roberts & Norbert Hornstein. 2014. On recursion. Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences 4. 1017.10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01017Search in Google Scholar
Wegner, Peter. 1997. Why Interaction is more powerful than algorithms. Comm. ACM 40(5). 80–91.10.1145/253769.253801Search in Google Scholar
Wegner, Peter. 1998. Interactive foundations of computing. Theoretical Computer Science 192. 315–351.10.1016/S0304-3975(97)00154-0Search in Google Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre & Dan, Sperber. 2004. Relevance Theory. In Lawrence Horn and Gregory Ward, (eds.) The Handbook of Pragmatics, 607–632. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Wurmbrand, Susi. 2014. The merge condition: A syntactic approach to selection. In P. Kosta et al. (eds.), Minimalism and beyond: Radicalizing the interfaces, 130–167. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/lfab.11.06wurSearch in Google Scholar
Zagona, Karen. 1988. Verb phrase syntax. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Co. (Kluwer Academic Publishing).Search in Google Scholar
Zoerner, Edward. 1995. Coordination: The syntax of &P. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Irvine.Search in Google Scholar
©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton