Practical Information - Generative Linguistics in the Old World

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1The historical reality of biolinguistic diversityGiuseppe Longobardi , Cristina Guardiano^,Luca Bortolussi°, Andrea Sgarro°, Giuseppina Silvestri°*, Andrea Ceolin°Univ. York, ^Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia, °Univ. Trieste, *Univ. PisaGoals. Arguing that the historical application of the biolinguistic model can complement molecularantrhopology to model out a ‘grammatical anthropology’ as a new discipline at the crossroads ofcognitive, biological and historical sciences. Background. In many respects, P&P models of UGare a conceptually plausible answer to the problem of explanatory adequacy (Chomsky 1964).However, empirically, parametric theories are not yet sufficiently corroborated, since nobody has sofar indisputably assessed their effectiveness to the acquisition of grammatical diversity byimplementing a parameter setting system over a realistic collection of parameters (Fodor 2001,Yang 2003; cf. Chomsky 1995:7). It is therefore debatable that a P&P model has actually attainedsubstantial explanatory adequacy, though progressing beyond language-specific descriptiveadequacy. To address the need for more solid arguments in favor of P&P, Longobardi (2003)suggested the opportunity of: i) adopting a Modularized Global Parametrization strategy, aiming atstudying together relatively many (closely interacting) parameters in relatively many languageswithin the circumscribed domain of small modules of grammar; ii) beginning to aim at furthertesting grounds and levels of success, i.e. at satisfactory accounts of the actual distribution ofgrammatical diversity in time and space (historical adequacy). Methods. Elaborating on previouswork (Longobardi/Guardiano 2009), a sample of more than 50 carefully identified binaryparameters in DP-syntax, set in over 30 languages, is focused on; it is complemented with a set ofhypotheses about UG constraints, defining two levels of deductive structure: one determines thetraditional covariation of properties following from the same parameter, the other encodes anextraordinarily rich implicational hierarchy among parameters themselves (more pervasive thanhinted in Baker 2001), largely responsible for hierarchies of size (e.g. Biberauer/Roberts 2012).Phylogenetic programs of biostatistical derivation have been applied to this database to formallymeasure syntactic diversity and generate hypotheses of phylogenetic trees and networks. Specificmathematical procedures (a sampling algorithm capable of dealing with the universal constraintsimposed on parameter setting) have been elaborated on purpose, to compute the width of potentialdiversity allowed by this fragment of UG and to evaluate the significance of the one observed in theactual language set. First results. The distribution of actual syntactic distances is statistically highlysignificant. The results have been measured against independently known historical data (fromcomparative linguistics, history, genetics), with largely correct correlations: given a non-trivial set oflanguages, the description of their variation provided by the systematic parametric analysis of awhole compact domain quite exactly recapitulates their known history and relationships. The realityof a P&P model of the language faculty, therefore, receives strong and original support from itshistorical adequacy. Further testing. Recently, the use of structural traits (superficial grammaticalpatterns) has been advocated and tested for conclusions on language phylogenies, the status ofuniversals, and the modeling of grammatical evolution (Dunn et al. 2011). Now, since parameterstry to represent ‘abstract’ differences, often exhibiting a high degree of deductive depth with respectto surface contrasts, counting similarities in patterns rather than in parameter values could turn out toprovide different outcomes when quantitatively assessing areal or genealogical relatedness. In orderto test this idea, the same experiments above have been repeated using a choice of the surfacedescriptive patterns derived from the parameters, rather than the parameter values themselves (i.e.comparing E-languages rather than I-languages). Again, the results were plotted against the sameindependently known historical variables. This experiment allows one to empirically test theparameter-pattern controversy and Dunn et al.’s alleged conclusion that implicational universals and
UG are not supported by the extant distribution of structural diversity in the world’s languages. Thefirst computations suggest that pattern-based phylogenies are by no means more significant or morerevealing than those founded on abstract parameters and that the latter better represent actualhistorical linguistic relations. Further corroborating these results, we argue that biolinguistic modelsof diversity encode a higher level of reality than surface-oriented typologies.ReferencesBaker, M.(2001) The Atoms of Language. New York, Basic Books. Biberauer T., I. Roberts (2012) Thesignificance of what hasn’t happened. DiGS 14, Lisbon. Chomsky, N. (1964) Current Issues in Linguistic Theory.In: Fodor, J. A., J. J. Katz (eds.), The Structure of Language: Readings in the Philosophy of Language, EnglewoodCliffs, Prentice Hall: 50-118. Chomsky, N. (1995) The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press. Dunn,M., S. J. Greenhill, S. C. Levinson, R. D. Gray (2011) Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specifictrends in word-order universals, doi:10.1038/nature09923. Fodor, J. D. (2001) Setting syntactic parameters. In M.Baltin, Date: C. 21-0-2012 Collins (eds.) The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory, Oxford, Blackwell. Longobardi G.(2003) Experiment: Methods TableA56(-Far)-UPin Parametric Linguistics and Cognitive History. LVY, 3: 101-138. Longobardi G., C. Guardiano(2009) Method: Evidence Bootstrap for Syntax experiment as a Signal of Historical Relatedness. Lingua, 119, 11, 1679-1706. Yang, C. (2003)Knowledge and learning in natural language. Oxford, OUP.Algorithm: neighborFig. 1: UPGMA Tree from 56 syntactic parameters 1Date: 21-1-2012Experiment: ManifestationUPGMA(1)Method: Bootstrap experimentAlgorithm: neighborFig. 2: UPGMA Tree from 113 corresponding surface patterns1 Legenda. Wo = Wolof; StB = Standard Basque; WB = Western Basque; Hu = Hungarian; Fin = Finnish; Ar = Arabic;Heb = Hebrew; Hi = Hindi; Ma = Marathi; Nor = Norwegian; Da = Danish; Ice = Icelandic; E = English; D = German; Wel= Welsh; Ir = Irish; Rus = Russian; Po = Polish; Slo = Slovenian; SC = Serbo-Croat; Blg = Bulgarian; Gri = Grico(Salentino Greek); BoG = Bovese Greek (Calabria, Grecanico); Grk = Greek; It = Italian; Cal = Calabrese; Sal = Salentino;Sic = Sicilian; Ptg = Portuguese; Sp = Spanish; Fr = French; Rm = Rumanian.2
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GLOW Newsletter #70, Spring 2013Edi
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INTRODUCTIONWelcome to the 70 th GL
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Welcome to GLOW 36, Lund!The 36th G
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REIMBURSEMENT AND WAIVERSThe regist
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STATISTICS BY COUNTRYCountry Author
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15:45-16:00 Coffee break16:00-17:00
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14:00-15:00 Adam Albright (MIT) and
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17:00-17:30 Anna Maria Di Sciullo (
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16.10-16.50 Peter Svenonius (Univer
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GLOW 36 WORKSHOP PROGRAM IV:Acquisi
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The impossible chaos: When the mind
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17. Friederici, A. D., Trends Cogn.
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Second, tests replicated from Bruen
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clusters is reported to be preferre
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occur (cf. figure 1). Similar perfo
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argument that raises to pre-verbal
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Timothy Bazalgette University of
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. I hurt not this knee now (Emma 2;
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Rajesh Bhatt & Stefan Keine(Univers
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SIZE MATTERS: ON DIACHRONIC STABILI
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ON THE ‘MAFIOSO EFFECT’ IN GRAM
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The absence of coreferential subjec
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PROSPECTS FOR A COMPARATIVE BIOLING
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A multi-step algorithm for serial o
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Velar/coronal asymmetry in phonemic
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On the bilingual acquisition of Ita
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Hierarchy and Recursion in the Brai
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Colorful spleeny ideas speak furiou
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A neoparametric approach to variati
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Lexical items merged in functional
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Setting the elements of syntactic v
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Language Faculty, Complexity Reduct
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Don’t scope your universal quanti
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Restricting language change through
Page 70 and 71: 4. Conclusion This micro-comparativ
Page 72 and 73: 2. Central Algonquian feature hiera
Page 74 and 75: availability of the SR reading in (
Page 76 and 77: Repairing Final-Over-Final Constrai
Page 78 and 79: a PF interface phenomenon as propos
Page 80 and 81: (b) Once the learner has determined
Page 82 and 83: cognitive recursion (including Merg
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Page 86 and 87: feature on C and applies after Agre
Page 88 and 89: Nobu Goto (Mie University)Deletion
Page 90 and 91: Structural Asymmetries - The View f
Page 92 and 93: FROM INFANT POINTING TO THE PHASE:
Page 94 and 95: Some Maladaptive Traits of Natural
Page 96 and 97: Constraints on Concept FormationDan
Page 98 and 99: More on strategies of relativizatio
Page 100 and 101: ReferencesBayer, J. 1984. COMP in B
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Page 104 and 105: Importantly, while there are plausi
Page 106 and 107: This hypothesis makes two predictio
Page 108 and 109: (3) a. Það finnst alltaf þremur
Page 110 and 111: (2) Watashi-wa hudan hougaku -wa /*
Page 112 and 113: However when the VP (or IP) is elid
Page 114 and 115: More specifically, this work reflec
Page 116 and 117: modality, or ii) see phonology as m
Page 118 and 119: (I) FWHA The wh-word shenme ‘what
Page 122 and 123: Rita Manzini, FirenzeVariation and
Page 124 and 125: Non-counterfactual past subjunctive
Page 126 and 127: THE GRAMMAR OF THE ESSENTIAL INDEXI
Page 128 and 129: Motivating head movement: The case
Page 130 and 131: Limits on Noun-suppletionBeata Mosk
Page 132 and 133: Unbounded Successive-Cyclic Rightwa
Page 134 and 135: Same, different, other, and the his
Page 136 and 137: Selectivity in L3 transfer: effects
Page 138 and 139: Anaphoric dependencies in real time
Page 140 and 141: Constraining Local Dislocation dial
Page 142 and 143: A Dual-Source Analysis of GappingDa
Page 144 and 145: [9] S. Repp. ¬ (A& B). Gapping, ne
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Page 148 and 149: Deriving the Functional HierarchyGi
Page 150 and 151: Reflexivity without reflexivesEric
Page 152 and 153: Reuland, E. (2001). Primitives of b
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Page 158 and 159: 1 SachsThe Semantics of Hindi Multi
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Page 162 and 163: Morpho-syntactic transfer in L3 acq
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changing instances of nodes 7 and 8
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Sam Steddy, steddy@mit.eduMore irre
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Fleshing out this model further, I
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(5) Raman i [ CP taan {i,∗j}Raman
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properties with Appl (introduces an
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econstruct to position A then we ca
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(5) Kutik=i ez guret-a.dog=OBL.M 1S
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sults summarized in (2) suggest tha
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Building on Bhatt’s (2005) analys
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Underlying (derived from ON) /pp, t
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out, as shown in (3) (that the DP i
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Word order and definiteness in the
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Visser’s Generalization and the c
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the key factors. The combination of
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Parasitic Gaps Licensed by Elided S
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Stages of grammaticalization of the
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