Search

Cartographic studies have been pursued for over a quarter of a century, offering new insights on the nature and fine details of syntactic structures. The study of Romance languages and dialects has played a critical role in these advances. The following introductory remarks illustrate the general lines of this trend, without attempting at an exhaustive review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intervention effects have been thoroughly studied in formal syntax in the domain of weak islands. They also have recently been appealed to in the study of language acquisition, to capture certain difficulties that young children manifest in the mastery of some object A'-bar dependencies (relatives, questions, topicalizations). Can one unify such distinct utilizations of the concept of intervention under a single formal locality principle? This paper explores the possibility of a unitary approach by proposing solutions for observed discrepancies between the effects in adults and children, and more generally between the different utilizations of the concept of intervention in recent work on adult grammar and language acquisition. Relativized Minimality (RM) is seen as a formal principle penalizing configurations as a function of the distinctness between target and intervener in local relations, where distinctness is precisely expressed as a grammar-based notion. A unitary system consisting of RM and an explicit distinctness hierarchy is argued to be operative in intervention effects in grammar and language acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on morpho-syntactic aspects used in linguistics for the study of monkey languages. Evidences showing sign combinations found in monkey languages are offered. Campbell monkey's combination of sign -oo with krak (leopard alert) and hok (eagle alert) is discussed. Sign combinations being used by Black-and-White Colobus monkeys, female Diana monkeys and Titi monkeys.

Combining the labeling algorithm of with bare phrase structure raises the question of how heads (simple or complex) and phrases can be distinguished. I propose a notational device which draws the distinction in a way which solves technical problems for the labeling algorithm. Focusing on phrasal movement, I show how the 'halting problem' for wh-movement, and in particular the freezing effects arising in criterial positions, can be derived from labeling and a maximality principle, restricting movement to maximal elements with a given label. Looking then at head movement, I argue that it can be made consistent with the No Tampering condition, and work out the labeling algorithm for structures derived by head movement. Finally, I argue that the ban against excorporation in head movement can be analyzed as a case of freezing, and traced back, much as freezing in phrasal movement, to the maximality principle relativized to the head - phrase distinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses one particular aspect of the cartographic enterprise, the cartographic study of the left periphery of the clause, the system of criteria, and the 'syntacticisation' of scope-discourse semantics that rich and detailed syntactic maps make possible. I will compare this theoretical option with the conceivable alternative, the 'pragmaticization' of a radically impoverished syntax, and will discuss some simple kinds of empirical evidence bearing on the choice between these alternative perspectives. I will then turn to the issue of whether the properties of the functional sequence (ordering, cooccurrence restrictions) are amenable to 'further explanations' in terms of more basic principles constraining linguistic computations. I will argue that the search for deeper explanations is an integral part of the cartographic endeavour: it presupposes the establishment of reliable maps, and nourishes the pursuit of further cartographic questions. I will conclude by illustrating the issue of further explanation by comparing certain properties of topicalization in English and Italian, in particular the fact that DP topics are fundamentally unique in English, while they can be freely reiterated in Italian. This pattern can be plausibly traced back to intervention locality, once certain independent properties distinguishing Italian and English topicalization are taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the language faculty pursued within the tradition of generative grammar focuses on a natural object, the cognitive capacity that our species possesses for knowledge, acquisition, and use of natural languages. This line of research investigates a component of the human mind/brain, and is pursued within the federating framework of the cognitive neurosciences. Three major steps of this research trend are examined here: the modeling of the language faculty as a computational capacity, the study of language invariance and variation through parametric models, and the guidelines of the Minimalist program. After a presentation of the logic of the parametric approach to language variation, some properties of the micro- versus macro-comparative study of syntax are examined. The basic guidelines of the Minimalist program are illustrated, with special reference to the role of economy principles; some consequences of minimalist ideas for general issues such as innateness and task-specificity of the language faculty are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]