Biolinguistics (E-Journal)
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A Biolinguistic Approach to the Vocalizations of H. Neanderthalensis and the Genus Homo
No full textThis paper revisits the old question about the possibilities and aptitudes H. neanderthalensis had for vocalization. New evidence will be discussed that moves the discussion beyond traditional interest in the presence and inter-pretation of the fossil record and its comparison with the closest species to H. sapiens, like chimpanzees and gorillas. An interdisciplinary perspective on the analysis coupled with information gathered from neuropsychology, genetics, and comparative psychology will prove useful for obtaining a new vision in biolinguistics, so that neurocognitive activity becomes important thanks, above all, to the comparison with other species. Finally, it will be argued that it is still plausible to accept the hypothesis on the formation of a vocal capacity prior to the cognitive faculty of language, and independent of it, so that Neandertals were probably able of vocalizing voluntarily, with communicative intentions and in a sophisticated way
The Acquisition of Recursion: How Formalism Articulates the Child’s Path
No full textWe distinguish three kinds of recursion: Direct Recursion (which delivers a ‘conjunction’ reading), Indirect Recursion, and Generalized Transformations. The essential argument is that Direct Recursion captures the first stage of each recursive structure. Acquisition evidence will then be provided from both naturalistic data and experimentation that adjectives, possessives, verbal compounds, and sentence complements all point to con-junction as the first stage. Then it will be argued that Indirect Recursion captures the Strong Minimalist Thesis, which allows periodic Transfer and interpretation. Why is recursion delayed and not immediate? It is argued that an interpretation of Generalized Transformations in the spirit of Tree Adjoining Grammar offers a route to explanation. A labeling algorithm combines with Generalized Transformations to provide different labels for recursive structures projection. Recursion is then achieved by substitution of a recursive node for a simple node. One simple case is to substitute a Maximal Projection for a simple non-branching lexical node. A more complex case — essential to acquisition — is to substitute a category for a lexical string. Consequently, a computational ‘psychological reality’ can be attributed to explain why recursion requires an extra step for the addition of each recursive construction on the acquisition path
Space and the Vision–Language Interface: A Model-Theoretic Approach
No full textThe relation between spatial vision and spatial language has always been a source of controversy. Three problems can be identified as in need of a solution. A first problem pertains to the nature of the minimal information units that make up spatial vision and language. A second problem pertains to the ‘dynamic’ aspects of vision and language, or what visual information to and similar adpositions correspond to. A third problem pertains to how these different types of information are related one another, and what is the status of this ‘interface’, especially within a broader theory of language and cognition. The solution proposed here consists in a formal (model-theoretic) treatment of visual and linguistic information, both static and dynamic, that is couched within (a simplified form of) Discourse Representation Theory. It is shown that this solution is consistent with general theories of cognition and may shed some (novel) light on the nature of the FLN/FLB distinction
Lenneberg’s Views on Language Development and Evolution and Their Relevance for Modern Biolinguistics
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