Finnish word order: Does comprehension matter?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Pauli Brattico
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Pf Interface ◽  
Dynamic Syntax ◽  
Human Language Faculty

Abstract Finnish word order is relatively free, making room for all mathematically possible word orders in many constructions. Because there is no evidence in this language for radical nonconfigurationality, explanations must be sought from syntax. It is argued in this article that morphosyntax and word order represent syntactic structure at the PF-interface. Rich morphosyntax frees word order, poor morphosyntax freezes it. The hypothesis is formalized within the context of a parsing-oriented theory of the human language faculty (UG) combining left-to-right minimalism with the dynamic syntax approach. The analysis was implemented as an algorithm and successfully tested with a corpus of 119,800 unique Finnish word orders.

Verb Second in Norwegian: Variation and acquisition

2020 ◽  
pp. 770-789
Author(s):  
Terje Lohndal ◽  
Marit Westergaard ◽  
Øystein A. Vangsnes
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Initial Element ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Micro Systems ◽  
Human Language Faculty

This chapter provides an overview of the micro-variation in Norwegian when it comes to Verb Second (V2) word order, both in the various dialects and in the two standard written varieties of Norwegian. The variation is dependent on a number of factors, including clause type, type of initial element, and information structure. This overview demonstrates a rich inventory of micro-systems, raising the question of how children come to acquire such fine-grained patterns. The chapter addresses this question by providing findings from acquisition research and discusses what this considerable micro-variation and coexisting grammars tell us about the architecture of the human language faculty.

scholarly journals Introducing the Special Issue: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Code-Switching

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Draško Kašćelan ◽  
Margaret Deuchar
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Valuable Source ◽  
Human Language Faculty

Research on code-switching was the province of specialists in linguistics alone in the latter part of the twentieth century and is still a valuable source of insights into the human language faculty [...]

The Siege of Paris

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Berwick ◽  
Noam Chomsky
Keyword(s):  
Specific Property ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Noam Chomsky ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Human Language Faculty

In a response to Cedric Boeckx, Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky defend and update their argument that the human language faculty is a species-specific property, with no known group differences and little variation.

What is the human language faculty?: Two views

Language ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 586-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Jackendoff
Keyword(s):  
Human Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Human Language Faculty

Was ist das Spielerische am Sprachspiel?

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Julius Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Philosophical Investigations ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Human Language Faculty

AbstractDid Wittgenstein in coining the term ‘Sprachspiel’ mean to convey the connotation of an open playfulness, as the German terms ‘Spiel’ and ‘spielerisch’ suggest? The paper tries to show that although this was not his original motive for choosing the term, the characterization of natural language offered in the Philosophical Investigations includes and indeed highlights its open, not rule-governed (and in this sense playful) sides. In this respect language is unlike a calculus and unlike a game like chess.Wittgenstein compares language to both, but, so the paper argues, he does so in order to make visible what is special in language and is different from a calculus as well as a strictly regulated game like chess.When he applies the word ‘calculus’ in an affirmative sense for describing a feature of what he describes as language games, the context is the principle of compositionality, interpreted, however, in such a way that the difference between the workings of a calculus and the workings of language is preserved.The paper comes to the conclusion that, in using a natural language, speakers have some freedom to decide whether they cling to or depart from conventional usage. This freedom is a central ingredient of the human language faculty.

The Neural Basis of Language

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Noam Chomsky
Keyword(s):  
Brain Structures ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Arcuate Fasciculus ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
The Core ◽  
Integrative View ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
Human Language Faculty

The findings discussed in this book lead to a first integrative view on the neurobiology of language, which proposes that BA 44 and the arcuate fasciculus are those brain structures that have evolved to subserve the human capacity to process syntax, which is at the core of the human language faculty. The chapter concludes with a brief statement of why syntax is important for the human being.

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