Universal Grammar and the Mind vs the Brain

Elly van Gelderen

6 April 2012

Outline

Some current developments regarding Universal Grammar (UG):

What is (UG) and what is 3rd factor?

Status of features

Mind over matter: can linguistics contribute to the renewed interest in dualism?

Some current issues in MinimalismHow much to attribute to Universal

Grammar?

Earlier: parameters in the syntax (e.g. head-initial) but now all variation is in the lexicon by means of features; syntax is `merge’

Lexical learning and the Poverty of the Stimulus suggest the need for innate concepts

From early Generative Grammar to Minimalism

Universal Grammar UG and Third factors(= Principles & Parameters)

+ +Input Input

(Scottish English, Western Navajo, etc) = =

I-language I-language

E-language E-Language

Three Factors relevant to the FL“(1) genetic endowment, which sets limits on the

attainable languages, thereby making language acquisition possible;

(2) external data, converted to the experience that selects one or another language within a narrow range;

(3) principles not specific to FL [the Faculty of Language]. Some of the third factor principles have the flavor of the constraints that enter into all facets of growth and evolution.... Among these are principles of efficient computation”. (Chomsky 2007: 3)

The actual features are not third factor

Chomsky (1965: 142): “semantic features ... too, are presumably drawn from a universal ‘alphabet’ but little is known about this today and nothing has been said about it here.”

Chomsky (1993: 24) vocabulary acquisition shows poverty of the stimulus.

The importance of various featuresChomsky (1965: 87-88): lexicon contains

information for the phonological, semantic, and syntactic component.

Sincerity (+N, -Count, +Abstract...)

Chomsky (1995: 230ff; 236; 277ff): semantic (e.g. abstract object), phonological (e.g. the sounds), andformal features:

intrinsic or optional.

Features of airplane and build

(adapted from Chomsky 1995: 231) Semantic would be innate; formal needs to be learned!

airplane buildsemantic: e.g. [artifact] e.g. [action]phonological: e.g. [begins with a vowel; e.g. [one syllable]

two syllables]formal:

intrinsic optional intrinsicoptional

[nominal] [number] [verbal] [phi][3 person] [Case] [assign accusative] [tense][non-human]

Categories/semantic features• Humans and non-humans are excellent at

categorization, e.g. prairie dogs have colors, shape, size.

• Words are not the problem; morphology is!

Innate vs learned

shapes grammatical gendernegatives grammatical number`if’modalsmass-count

Another question: much more speculative!

Free will vs determinism

“Les idées ... ne tirent en aucune sorte leur origine des sens ... Notre ame a la faculté de les former de soi-même.”

`Ideas do not in any fashion have their origin in the senses ... Our mind has the faculty to form those on its own.’ (Arnauld & Nicole 1662 [1965]: 45)

Language is about the mind not the world!

Is the `mind’ purely material?De la Mettrie DescartesSkinner Eccles/PopperChurchland Sperry (mentalism)Dennett Chalmers

Consciousness and subjectivity? The problem of reference: unicorn, circleThe mind thinks about that which is not; we

can’t know what others think.

For Baker (2011) FL is an ideal testing ground

Vocabulary and grammar vs creative aspect (CALU). CALU: unbounded, stimulus-free, and appropriate use.

a) Is there an area in the brain for CALU?Wernicke and Broca’s aphasia: no evidence

that CALU is affected. Lichtheim (1885): no aphasia with concept center affected.

b) Is there a CALU gene?c) OCD therapy (Schwarz): mind tells the

brain to stop

In short

Recent changes in what UG is:

from Principles and Parameters > features

Now the question is: are concepts and features innate and third factor?

New focus: CALU and dualism