Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Philosophy, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

In this thesis, I argue that the current biolinguists commit a categorical error when they study the so-claimed “language organ” (an ontological non-naturalist act) with methods that (they claim) align with natural sciences (a methodological naturalist act). I will argue that they are turning linguistic studies into “demonology”, a cult-like dogma, by having this disassociation in their ontological and methodological views, for this disassociation lets linguistics lose the ultimate ground that validates all knowledge: the reality, or experience in Kant’s term. In turn, this disassociation enlarges the split of current linguistic study: the generative/biolinguistics vs. the cognitive linguistics/psych-linguistics/ usage-based linguistics (or whatever other name one wants to call them). I will first briefly introduce what Kant said about similar issues (chapter 2). Then, I will introduce the disassociation of methodological and ontological naturalism in current linguistic doctrine (chapter 3) and how this disassociation is turning linguistics into a self-entertaining demonology with examples of the language organ, language evolution, and Principles and Parameters. Chapter 4 will be a discussion as why things have become what they are, and ends with some conclusions / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This thesis criticizes the general biolinguistics enterprise in terms of the first suggestion that Kant would give in chapter 2.6; namely that biolinguistics distances itself from reality. Generally, like all dogmatism or rationalism that Kant meant to criticize, biolinguistics is no exception. However, it redeems itself from being yet another dogmatism with this seemingly justified disassociation of ontological dualism and methodological naturalism. It is doing this so covertly that many scientists fall into believing it is a science. As an undergraduate student, I was always awed at ideas like universal grammar and how it affects language learning. My impression was that Kant was being re-invited: that unlike other language theories, nativism recognizes that the internal epistemological factors are part of the language itself. This is parallel to Kant, for Kant recognized how a seemingly completely external entity such as experience is actually heavily constructed by our cognition. Then, there was something that did not feel right, something that was not very Kant when I heard “language came from a sudden mutation around…years ago and had no evolution; children learn L1 so effortlessly solely because of the language organ; language is biologically innate…”. I now know and will argue that they all come from the disassociation that I did not notice then, the disassociation that makes linguistics only a science on the surface but a dogmatism in the core, like demonology.

This dissertation proposes a principle of "economy of command", arguing that it provides a simple and natural explanation for some well-known properties of human language syntax. The focus is on the abstract combinatorial system that constructs the hierarchical structure of linguistic expressions, with long-distance dependencies determined by the structural relation of c-command. Adopting the assumption of much recent work that properties of syntax reflect very general organizational principles, I propose that syntactic forms with fewer and shorter c-command relations are preferred. Within the boundaries of strict binary branching assumed here, this results in a preference for hierarchical tree structures to be shallow and bushy, rather than deep and narrow. I pursue two broad applications of this principle, to syntactic movement and phrase structure. I argue that movement, the displacement of material to thematically unrelated positions, is a mechanism to reduce the number and length of c-command relations in the affected structures. I detail the properties we expect if movement is driven by this principle, including antilocality, a size threshold effect, a class of island effects, and feedback effects on iterated patterns of movement. I argue that these predictions align well with recent empirical descriptions of syntactic movement. I develop an account in these terms of the cross-linguistic ordering of elements within nominal phrases. Utilizing a computer program, I show that a single underlying structure common to all languages can give rise to all and only the attested word order possibilities via c-command-reducing movements, and describe the required shape of this underlying structure. The principle of economy of command also makes predictions about the format of phrase structure. Among the possible ways to build self-similar syntactic structure, the phrasal forms that build trees with the fewest c-command relations are "endocentric", in the geometric sense that each phrase contains a unique local terminal, and every daughter of the phrase that does not contain its associated terminal is another phrase. This provides a structural basis for the mysterious headedness of phrases. These successes support the validity of the principle, and reinforce the broader project of seeking naturalistic explanation of linguistic properties.

This study examines gaze patterns of monolinguals and bilinguals encoding speech in familiar and unfamiliar languages. In condition 1 English monolinguals viewed videos in familiar and unfamiliar languages (English and Spanish or Icelandic). They performed a task to ensure encoding: on each trial, two videos of short sentences were presented, followed by an audio-only recording of one of those sentences. Participants choose whether the audio-clip matched the first or second video. Participants gazed significantly longer at speaker's mouths when viewing unfamiliar languages. In condition 2 Spanish-English bilingual's viewed English and Spanish, no difference was found between the languages. In condition 3 the task was removed, English monolinguals viewed 20 English and 20 Icelandic videos, no difference in the gaze patterns was found, suggesting this phenomenon relies on encoding. Results indicate people encoding unfamiliar speech attend to the mouth presumably to extract more accurate audiovisually invariant and highly salient speech information. / by Lauren Wood Mavica. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-153).

This study tests Newports Less is More hypothesis with a language teaching experiment. Computerized French language lessons were presented to forty-two adults over two one-hour sessions. Learning trials were presented either in full sentences to resemble the adult learning environment, or in small increments that gradually increased to full sentences, resembling the steadily expanding processing capabilities of children. Trials were also presented randomly or ordered such that multiple examples of the same objects and verbs were presented consecutively. Language proficiency tests were administered after the lessons. A 2 (Presentation: incremental or full sentence) x 2 (Order of presentation: blocked or random) mixed ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The incremental conditions outperformed the sentence conditions on all proficiency measures. There was no significant effect of the blocking manipulation. This outcome suggests that a teaching method based on Newport's Less is More hypothesis can be advantageous in learning a foreign language. / by Simone L. Chin. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Research in second language acquisition reveals that adults have difficulty learning the grammatical aspects of a foreign language. The present study investigated the efficacy of three teaching methods that were predicted to help adults better learn the grammar of a foreign language. First, lessons were presented in small pieces that gradually increased to full sentences. Second, lesson trials were blocked such that multiple examples of sentences with the same object or verb were presented consecutively. Third, participants were instructed to gesture the actions of the verbs within sentences. All three methods were predicted to increase the likelihood of learning the grammar form of sentences through guiding adults’ attention to fewer components of language input at a time. In Experiment 1, 82 English native speakers played an adventure videogame designed for the learning of French vocabulary and grammar of French sentences for two one-hour sessions. All three methods were incorporated in the lessons portion of the game resulting in a 2(incremental vs. full sentence) X 2(blocked vs. unblocked order) X 2(gesture vs. no gesture) between subjects design. The results from Experiment 1 revealed a) more nouns were acquired than verbs and b) a trend that the incremental conditions performed worse than the full sentence conditions on the grammar measures. In Experiment 2, 110 adult learners played the French videogame, but only the blocked presentation and gesture imitation methods were incorporated in the lessons portion (omitting the method of incremental presentation). The results from Experiment 2 revealed a) conditions with either method of blocked presentation or gesturing performed better on vocabulary and grammar measures than the unblocked non-gesture condition, and b) the combination of blocked presentation and gesturing led to better learning of inductive grammar than either method alone. The outcome of the study suggests gesturing and blocked order teaching methods that encourage adults to attend to a few but important components within a sentence are advantageous in learning the grammar of a foreign language. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Investigamos, nesta tese, as bases filogenéticas do léxico humano e o modo como elas foram articuladas às habilidades combinatoriais no curso da evolução. Partimos de uma avaliação da interação entre o léxico e a sintaxe com o intuito de determinar quanto da derivação sintática é dependente de informações lexicais e, em que medida, as propostas disponíveis são coerentes com o desenvolvimento evolutivo humano. Nosso objetivo principal é fornecer uma hipótese para a interface entre o léxico e a sintaxe que seja explicativa e evolutivamente adequada. Para esclarecer as discordâncias empíricas e teóricas observadas, propomos, em contrapartida, uma nova abordagem para a gramática, a Abordagem Isomórfica. Argumentamos que o léxico humano decorre do agrupamento de um conjunto de sistemas pré-adaptados que evoluíram separadamente um sistema conceitual-intencional, um sistema sensório-motor e um sistema funcional, cuja integração é um produto direto da emergência de um sistema combinatorial recursivo. Operacionalmente, buscamos, com essa abordagem, reduzir a influência lexical na formação de um objeto linguístico, na tentativa de assegurar uma isonomia funcional entre o léxico e a sintaxe. Motivamos, adicionalmente, a exaptação de um sistema responsável por derivar as unidades discretas empregadas pelo sistema combinatorial, a que damos o nome de sistema funcional. Compartilhado com primatas não humanos, o sistema funcional justifica-se pelo paralelismo entre a denotação rígida das vocalizações de alerta de primatas não humanos e o conteúdo fixo das unidades funcionais da linguagem humana. Propomos, com base nessa correlação, que os mecanismos cognitivos subjacentes aos sistemas de vocalização primata, instanciados pelo sistema funcional, correspondem aos precursores filogenéticos dos traços formais. Funcionalmente, essa nova abordagem incorpora a visão neoconstrucionista de que a derivação da estrutura sintática independe de informações codificadas nas entradas lexicais. Tal conjectura assegura a autonomia funcional da sintaxe, o que, como resultado, nos aproxima do caminho para se ir além da adequação explicativa. / We investigate, in this dissertation, the phylogenetic bases of human lexicon and how they were articulated with combinatorial abilities in evolution. We begin with an evaluation of the interaction between lexicon and syntax to determine how much of the syntactic derivation is dependent on lexical information, and to which extent the available proposals are consistent with human evolutionary development. Our main goal is to come up with an account for the lexicon-syntax interface that is both explanatory and evolutionarily adequate. In an attempt to eliminate the observed empirical and theoretical divergences, we propose a new approach to grammar, the Isomorphic Approach. We claim the human lexicon arouse from the assemblage of a set of pre-adapted systems that evolved separately viz., a conceptual-intentional, a sensory-motor, and a functional system, whose integration is a by-product of the emergence of a recursive combinatorial system. Operationally, we seek, with this approach, to reduce the burden of lexical influence in the derivation of a linguistic object, with the view to establish a functional isonomy between lexicon and syntax. Furthermore, we motivate the exaptation of a pre-adapted system responsible for deriving the discrete units that feed the combinatorial engine, which we call functional system. Shared with non-human primates, the functional system finds justification in the parallel between the rigid denotation of non-human primate alert calls and the fixed content of human language functional units. We propose, based on this conjecture, that the cognitive mechanisms underlying non-human primate alarm-calling systems, suggestively made available by the functional system, comprise the phylogenetic precursors of human language formal features. Functionally, this new approach incorporates the neo-constructionist view that the derivation of a syntactic structure is independent of lexically encoded instructions. With this premise, we aim to ensure the establishment of an autonomous syntax, which, as a result, brings us closer to the road toward a level of explanation that goes beyond explanatory adequacy.

Investigamos, nesta tese, as bases filogenéticas do léxico humano e o modo como elas foram articuladas às habilidades combinatoriais no curso da evolução. Partimos de uma avaliação da interação entre o léxico e a sintaxe com o intuito de determinar quanto da derivação sintática é dependente de informações lexicais e, em que medida, as propostas disponíveis são coerentes com o desenvolvimento evolutivo humano. Nosso objetivo principal é fornecer uma hipótese para a interface entre o léxico e a sintaxe que seja explicativa e evolutivamente adequada. Para esclarecer as discordâncias empíricas e teóricas observadas, propomos, em contrapartida, uma nova abordagem para a gramática, a Abordagem Isomórfica. Argumentamos que o léxico humano decorre do agrupamento de um conjunto de sistemas pré-adaptados que evoluíram separadamente um sistema conceitual-intencional, um sistema sensório-motor e um sistema funcional, cuja integração é um produto direto da emergência de um sistema combinatorial recursivo. Operacionalmente, buscamos, com essa abordagem, reduzir a influência lexical na formação de um objeto linguístico, na tentativa de assegurar uma isonomia funcional entre o léxico e a sintaxe. Motivamos, adicionalmente, a exaptação de um sistema responsável por derivar as unidades discretas empregadas pelo sistema combinatorial, a que damos o nome de sistema funcional. Compartilhado com primatas não humanos, o sistema funcional justifica-se pelo paralelismo entre a denotação rígida das vocalizações de alerta de primatas não humanos e o conteúdo fixo das unidades funcionais da linguagem humana. Propomos, com base nessa correlação, que os mecanismos cognitivos subjacentes aos sistemas de vocalização primata, instanciados pelo sistema funcional, correspondem aos precursores filogenéticos dos traços formais. Funcionalmente, essa nova abordagem incorpora a visão neoconstrucionista de que a derivação da estrutura sintática independe de informações codificadas nas entradas lexicais. Tal conjectura assegura a autonomia funcional da sintaxe, o que, como resultado, nos aproxima do caminho para se ir além da adequação explicativa. / We investigate, in this dissertation, the phylogenetic bases of human lexicon and how they were articulated with combinatorial abilities in evolution. We begin with an evaluation of the interaction between lexicon and syntax to determine how much of the syntactic derivation is dependent on lexical information, and to which extent the available proposals are consistent with human evolutionary development. Our main goal is to come up with an account for the lexicon-syntax interface that is both explanatory and evolutionarily adequate. In an attempt to eliminate the observed empirical and theoretical divergences, we propose a new approach to grammar, the Isomorphic Approach. We claim the human lexicon arouse from the assemblage of a set of pre-adapted systems that evolved separately viz., a conceptual-intentional, a sensory-motor, and a functional system, whose integration is a by-product of the emergence of a recursive combinatorial system. Operationally, we seek, with this approach, to reduce the burden of lexical influence in the derivation of a linguistic object, with the view to establish a functional isonomy between lexicon and syntax. Furthermore, we motivate the exaptation of a pre-adapted system responsible for deriving the discrete units that feed the combinatorial engine, which we call functional system. Shared with non-human primates, the functional system finds justification in the parallel between the rigid denotation of non-human primate alert calls and the fixed content of human language functional units. We propose, based on this conjecture, that the cognitive mechanisms underlying non-human primate alarm-calling systems, suggestively made available by the functional system, comprise the phylogenetic precursors of human language formal features. Functionally, this new approach incorporates the neo-constructionist view that the derivation of a syntactic structure is independent of lexically encoded instructions. With this premise, we aim to ensure the establishment of an autonomous syntax, which, as a result, brings us closer to the road toward a level of explanation that goes beyond explanatory adequacy.