April McMahon (2000). Change, chance, and optimality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. x+201.

Phonology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kirchner
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
General Constraints ◽  
Formal Rules

It is generally acknowledged, by both its proponents and detractors, that Optimality Theory has provoked a reexamination, in recent years, of the role of functional considerations, and their typological reflexes, in phonological theory. April McMahon's Change, chance, and optimality attempts an in-depth examination of this issue, particularly from the perspective of the relation between synchrony and diachrony in linguistic theory. The issue, and OT's general stance towards it, are summarised by Prince & Smolensky (1993: 198):One might feel compelled to view a grammar as a more-or-less arbitrary assortment of formal rules, where the principles that the rules subserve (the ‘laws’) are placed entirely outside the grammar, beyond the purview of formal or theoretical analysis, inert but admired. It is not unheard of to conduct phonology in this fashion. We urge a reassessment of this essentially formalist position. If phonology is separated from the principles of well-formedness (the ‘laws’) that drive it, the resulting loss of constraint and theoretical depth will mark as major defeat for the enterprise. The danger, therefore, lies in the other direction: clinging to a conception of Universal Grammar as little more than a loose organizing framework for grammars. A much stronger stance, in accord with the thrust of recent work, is available. When the scalar and the gradient are recognized and brought within the purview of theory, Universal Grammar can supply the very substance from which grammars are built: a set of highly general constraints which, through ranking, interact to produce the elaborate particularity of individual languages.

The Minimality Condition in phonology

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monik Charette
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
The Other ◽  
Minimality Condition ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
Principles And Parameters

With a few honourable exceptions, phonologists have, until recently, generally assumed the phonological component to be organized along completely different lines from the other components of the grammar. Phonological phenomena were mainly viewed as accidental, language specific, and unprincipled. Whereas some theoretical parallels between syntax and phonology have been drawn (cf. the role of the cycle in both domains and the extensive literature on ordering), there have been few attempts to see if principles of Universal Grammar could be found in phonology as well as in syntax and semantics. Increasingly, however, phonology is now being regarded as a system of principles along with parameters defining the class of human phonological Systems. In such a framework there are no rules of the sort: A → B/C→D. Phonological phenomena result from principles and parameters governing phonological representations and structures present in a particular language. Along these lines, recent work in phonology has suggested that Phonological Form (PF), like the other components of the grammar, is subject to certain fundamental principles. For example, it was proposed by Andersen and Jones in the early 1970s (and pursued by Ewen, Durand and others) that the relations of dependency that determine how syntactic constituents are organized, also determine how segments are grouped together in a given structure. For their part Lowenstamm & Kaye (1982) proposed that a theory of government could account for certain phonological processes such as vowel shortening in closed syllables. Stephen Anderson (1982) and Levin (1985) have proposed that X-bar principles govern the representation of syllables. Specifically, they have proposed that the Rhyme and the syllable as a whole are projections of the syllabic head, the Nucleus.

Unconditional and conditional as categories of the dialectic of law

2021 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Grigory N. Utkin
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The One ◽  
Dialectical Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Meaning

The article reveals the conceptual, meaning-forming role of the categories of the unconditional and conditional in law. At the same time, their dialectical relationship with each other and with other categories is put in the center of attention. The dialectic of the unconditional and conditional is revealed by achieving the unity of the three stages of theoretical analysis, which allows us to present the unconditional and conditional, on the one hand, as the content of all concepts, through which the idea of law is generally expressed in various aspects and elements; on the other hand, the entire set of categories subject to dialectical analysis appears as elements of the content of the unconditional and conditional as semantic units that Express the universal characteristics of law in its features, isolation from other forms of social life.

scholarly journals The importance of being modular

2004 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIETER A. M. SEUREN
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The One ◽  
Radical Construction

William Croft,Radical Construction Grammar: syntactic theory in typological perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Pp. xxviii+416.My reason for writing this review article is that I want to highlight a particular basic opposition in linguistic theory and methodology. On the one hand, we have what is usually called COGNITIVISM, represented in the book under review by the new theory of Radical Construction Grammar, henceforth RCG. On the other hand, there is a variety of schools, together forming a large majority in the field, whose theoretical overlap may be characterized by the term MODULARITY. I argue against cognitivism and in favour of the modularity view, and I am using the book under review as an opportunity to define the issue and put forward the arguments.

Automatic Subjects

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Floyd
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Global Expansion ◽  
Autonomist Marxism ◽  
Fictitious Capital ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
The One ◽  
Reproductive Processes

Critical analysis of the biotechnological reproduction of biological life increasingly emphasises the role of value-producing labour in biotechnologically reproductive processes, while also arguing that Marx’s use of the terms ‘labour’ and ‘value’ is inadequate to the critical scrutiny of these processes. Focusing especially on the reformulation of the value-labour relation in recent work in this area by Melinda Cooper and Catherine Waldby, this paper both critiques this reformulation and questions the explanatory efficacy of the category ‘labour’ in this context. Emphasising the contemporary global expansion of capital relative to value-producing labour – specifically, the expansion of fictitious capital and debt on the one hand, and of global surplus populations on the other – it argues that this reformulation misrepresents the mediated capacities of capital as the immediate capacities of labour. This reformulation, moreover, is indicative of broader tendencies in the contemporary theorisation of labour, tendencies exemplified by autonomist Marxism.

scholarly journals Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition: Introduction to Special Issue

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 260-267
Author(s):  
Virve-Anneli Vihman ◽  
Diane Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Grammatical Structures

AbstractMost, if not all, languages exhibit “animacy effects”: grammatical structures interact with the relative animacy of noun referents, as represented on various versions of animacy scales, with human discourse participants at one end and inanimate objects at the other. Cross-linguistic evidence attests to a range of linguistic phenomena conditioned by animacy, with complex effects requiring (a) subtler distinctions than a binary contrast [± animate] and (b) more sophisticated analyses than mapping higher animacy to higher grammatical role.This paper introduces the Special Issue, “Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition”, in which the linguistic interest in grammatical effects of animacy is aligned with broader questions concerning animacy in cognition, including the origins of animacy in language, the biases underlying how we attend to animacy distinctions and how animacy affects discourse. Recent work in cognitive science and adjacent fields has contributed to the understanding of the role of animacy across linguistic domains. Yet, despite the consensus that sensitivity to animacy is a property central to human cognition, there is no agreement on how to incorporate animacy within linguistic theories. This SI focusses on the cognitive construal of animacy, aiming to extend our understanding of its role in grammar(s) and theory.

scholarly journals The uneven results of institutional changes in Central and Eastern Europe: The role of culture

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (163) ◽  
pp. 7-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetozar Pejovic
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The Other ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Informal Rules ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Formal Rules

It has been widely observed that the same formal rules, enacted in the parliaments in the form of written laws, give vastly different results in different social and cultural environments. This phenomenon came to be particularly pronounced in the process of transition of the formerly communist countries to market economies and politically pluralized societies. Highly similar and occasionally identical institutional changes turned out to be unequally accepted by the societies under consideration and produced widely different results in the material restructuring of the economies. It became clear that the notion of institutions had to be widened so as to encompass the informal rules: the customs, the traditions, cultural values and national myths. Informal rules define the constraints for implementing the formal ones and, on the other hand, determine the actual effects of the latter once they are implemented. Forcing the formal rules upon the transition societies cannot be successful unless preceding and/or contemporaneous changes of informal rules are provided for. The paper ends with a design of the strategy for the decisively important changes in values and other components of informal rules.

Semantics in generative grammar

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-185
Author(s):  
Enrico Cipriani
Keyword(s):  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Critical Survey ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Minimalist Approach

Abstract I provide a critical survey of the role that semantics took in the several models of generative grammar, since the 1950s until the Minimalist Program. I distinguish four different periods. In the first section, I focus on the role of formal semantics in generative grammar until the 1970s. In Section 2 I present the period of linguistic wars, when the role of semantics in linguistic theory became a crucial topic of debate. In Section 3 I focus on the formulation of conditions on transformations and Binding Theory in the 1970s and 1980s, while in the last Section I discuss the role of semantics in the minimalist approach. In this section, I also propose a semantically-based model of generative grammar, which fully endorses minimalism and Chomsky’s later position concerning the primary role of the semantic interface in the Universal Grammar modelization (Strong Minimalist Thesis). In the Discussion, I point out some theoretical problems deriving from Chomsky’s internalist interpretation of model-theoretic semantics.

Universal Grammar in Language Acquisition

1988 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha W. Felix
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
The Past ◽  
External Evidence

Progress in linguistic theory during the past 20 years has made it increasingly clear that language acquisition must be viewed as an essentially deductive process in which the child analyzes the input data s/he is exposed to on the basis of an innately specified set of restrictive principles — technically known as Universal Grammar — which narrowly constrain the kinds of hypotheses a child will consider vis-à-vis a given set of data (cf. Chomsky 1980, 1981, 1986; Hornstein and Lightfoot 1981; White 1982; Felix 1987). As a consequence, there is a growing interest in the question of how exactly principles of Universal Grammar interact with the child’s linguistic experience during the course of language acquisition (see e.g., Pinker 1984; Hyams 1986; Lust 1986b; Roeper and Williams 1987 among others for some more recent proposals). It appears that there are currently at least two competing views about the nature of this interaction. One of these views which I shall call “perceptionism” holds that the task of Universal Grammar (UG) is essentially restricted to constraining the types of intermediate grammars that the child will construct, while the developmental process itself is essentially data-driven, i.e., driven by the child’s (changing) perception of the external evidence. The other view which may be termed “maturationism” claims that UG is both responsible for the types of (intermediate) grammars that in principle may emerge and at the same time for the specific nature of the developmental process. Under the maturationist view language acquisition is therefore seen as a process that is driven primarily by internal, i.e., biologically determined maturational mechanisms.

scholarly journals Locality in metrical typology

Phonology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Foot Structure ◽  
Stress Peak ◽  
Local Reference ◽  
Distribution Of Stress

Recent work in metrical typology within Optimality Theory has emphasised the rhythmic distribution of stress peaks by reference to clashes and lapses, compared to the more central role of foot constituency characteristic of most previous approaches. One consequence of this emphasis has been the introduction of constraints that require reference to non-adjacent objects in the representation, such as two unstressed syllables plus a word edge or a stress peak. I argue here for a constraint-based approach to metrical typology that permits only strictly local formulations. This approach requires increased reference to foot structure, while maintaining local reference to clashes and lapses. The revised set of constraints predicts a larger set of possible stress systems, but correctly includes an attested iambic pattern excluded by recent theories.

Child Second Language Acquisition of Syntax

1995 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
L2 Learners

Recent advances in linguistic theory within the principles and parameters framework have exerted considerable influence on the field of second language acquisition. SLA researchers working within this framework of syntactic theory have investigated the extent to which developing second language grammars are constrained by principles of Universal Grammar (UG). Much of the UG-based SLA research in the 1980s focused on adult L2 acquisition, but the role of UG principles in child L2 acquisition remained largely unexplored. More recently, however, this state of affairs has begun to change as SLA researchers are becoming more and more interested in child second language syntactic development. In this paper, I review recent and current developments in UG-based child SLA research, and I argue that child SLA has a valuable role to play in enabling us to arrive at a better understanding of the role of biological factors in language acquisition and in strengthening the links between SLA and linguistic theory. Specifically, I discuss the findings of child SLA studies with respect to the following issues: the role of UG parameters in child SLA, the status of functional categories and their projections in child SLA, and the nature of the evidence available to and used by child L2 learners. The overall picture emerging from these studies suggests that child L2 developing grammars are indeed constrained by Universal Grammar. While it is not fully clear at the present time whether the child L2 learners& knowledge is a result of direct access to UG or indirect access to UG (i.e., through the mediation of the L1), the evidence indicates that L1 transfer (at least in certain syntactic domains) cannot be entirely ruled out.

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