Three Mathematical Foundations for Syntax

Three different foundational ideas can be identified in recent syntactic theory: structure from substitution classes, structure from dependencies among heads, and structure as the result of optimizing preferences. As formulated in this review, it is easy to see that these three ideas are completely...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnual review of linguistics Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 243 - 260
Main Author Stabler, Edward P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Annual Reviews 14.01.2019
Subjects
constituency
dependency
mathematical foundations
Optimality Theory
syntax
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Three different foundational ideas can be identified in recent syntactic theory: structure from substitution classes, structure from dependencies among heads, and structure as the result of optimizing preferences. As formulated in this review, it is easy to see that these three ideas are completely independent. Each has a different mathematical foundation, each suggests a different natural connection to meaning, and each implies something different about how language acquisition could work. Since they are all well supported by the evidence, these three ideas are found in various mixtures in the prominent syntactic traditions. From this perspective, if syntax springs fundamentally from a single basic human ability, it is an ability that exploits a coincidence of a number of very different things.
ISSN:2333-9683
2333-9691
DOI:10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011415-040658