stephen-r-anderson-david-w-lightfoot-the-language-organ_-linguistics-as-cognitive-physiology

285 Pages·2011·1.45 MB·English

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TheLanguageOrgan
LinguisticsasCognitivePhysiology
Challengingandoriginal,TheLanguageOrgantreatshumanlanguageasthe
manifestationofafacultyofthemind,amentalorganwhosenatureisdeter-
mined by human biology. Its functional properties should be explored just
as physiology explores the functional properties of physical organs. The
authorsarguethatlinguisticsinvestigatescognition,takingasitsobjectmental
representationsandprocessesratherthanexternallyobservedgrammaticalpat-
terns(whichconstituteevidence,butarenotthemselvestheobjectofstudy).
Such a view has untraditional consequences for the kinds of argument and
analysisthatcanbeofferedinunderstandingthenatureoflanguage.Thebook
surveysthenatureofthelanguagefacultyinitsvariousaspects:thesystems
ofsounds,words,andsyntax;thedevelopmentoflanguageinthechildand
historically;andwhatisknownaboutitsrelationtothebrain.Itdiscussesthe
kindsofworkthatcanbecarriedoutintheseareasthatwillcontributetoan
understandingofthehumanlanguageorgan.Thebookwillappealtostudents
andresearchersinlinguistics,andiswrittentobeaccessibletocolleaguesin
otherdisciplinesdealingwithlanguageaswellastoreaderswithaninterest
ingeneralscienceandthenatureofthehumanmind.
stephen r. andersonisProfessorofLinguisticsandCognitiveScience
atYaleUniversity.HeistheauthorofTheOrganizationofPhonology(1974),
Phonology in the Twentieth Century (1985), and A-Morphous Morphology
(1992).
david w. lightfoot is Dean of the Graduate School, Georgetown
University.Heistheauthorofeightbooks,mostrecentlyTheDevelopment
ofLanguage(1999).

The Language Organ
Linguistics as Cognitive Physiology
StephenR.Anderson
YaleUniversity
DavidW.Lightfoot
GeorgetownUniversity
         
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
http://www.cambridge.org
©Stephen R. Anderson and David W. Lightfoot 2004
First published in printed format 2002
ISBN 0-511-04210-8 eBook (netLibrary)
ISBN 0-521-80994-0 hardback
ISBN 0-521-00783-6 paperback
Dedicatedtothememoryof
VictoriaFromkin,
whowaswayaheadofusin
theinvestigationoflanguage
asanaspectofthemind/brain
[H]umancognitivesystems,whenseriouslyinvestigated,provetobenoless
marvelousandintricatethanthephysicalstructuresthatdevelopinthelifeof
theorganism.Why,then,shouldwenotstudytheacquisitionofacognitive
structure such as language more or less as we study some complex bodily
organ?
NoamChomsky1975,p.10
Contents
Preface pageix
1 Studyingthehumanlanguagefaculty 1
1.1Linguisticsandthemind/brain 3
1.2Linguisticsashistory 5
1.3LinguisticsasthestudyofE-language 12
1.4LinguisticsasthestudyofI-language 14
2 Languageasamentalorgan 18
2.1Weknowmorethanwelearn 18
2.2Thenatureofgrammars 23
2.3Backtothepuzzles 25
2.4Theacquisitionproblem 34
2.5Conclusion 40
3 Syntax 41
3.1Theemergenceofsyntaxwithinlinguistics 41
3.2Successivemergeranddeletion 43
3.3Case 61
3.4Conclusion 66
4 Soundpatternsinlanguage 67
4.1Phoneticsastheory 68
4.2Phonology:language-particularstructure 73
4.3MorphophonemicsandI-language 83
5 Describinglinguisticknowledge 92
5.1Phonologicalknowledgeasitappearsinborrowing 93
5.2Canrulesexpressphonologicalknowledge? 96
5.3Constraint-basedtheoriesofphonologicalknowledge 99
5.4Theextensionofconstraint-baseddescription 109
6 PhoneticsandtheI-linguisticsofspeech 111
6.1Representationsandthestudyofsoundstructure 111
6.2Alinguisticbasisforphoneticrepresentation 114
6.3Speechmicroprosody:aresearchprogram 127
6.4Conclusion 129
vii
viii Contents
7 Morphology 131
7.1 Thelexicon 132
7.2 Wordsand“morphemes” 134
7.3 Productivity 152
7.4 Conclusionsaboutlexicalorganization 155
8 Languagechange 157
8.1 Long-termdirectionalityinthetwentiethcentury 157
8.2 Grammarsandtime 161
8.3 Englishauxiliaryverbs 162
8.4 Syntacticeffectsofthelossofcase 175
8.5 Chaos 183
9 “Growing”alanguage 186
9.1 PrinciplesofUniversalGrammar:activeearly 186
9.2 Newphenomena 191
9.3 Experimentaltechnique 194
9.4 Natureofthetrigger 198
9.5 Acquiringsoundpatterns 206
9.6 Conclusion 214
10 Theorganicbasisoflanguage 216
10.1 Onlyhumanshavelanguageorgans 219
10.2 Languageisafunctionofthebrain 221
10.3 Languageisaparticularfaculty 236
10.4 Conclusions 238
References 244
Index 257