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Structure,sound,meaning,andcontext:linguisticsanditsinterfaceswithinaMinimalistframeworkCentreforContemporaryTheory,Vadodara,IndiaThomasMcFaddenandSandhyaSundaresanApril3,2009∗1Whatislinguistics?Whatislinguistics?Linguisticsisthescientificstudyofhumanlanguage.Aslinguists,wetrytoanswerquestionslikethefollowing:•Whatdohumanlanguageshaveincommon,andwhatsetsthemapartfromeachother?•Whatisthenatureoftheknowledgethatapersonpossesseswhenwesaythattheyspeakaparticularlanguage?•Howdochildrenlearnlanguages?•Howislanguageused,andwhatothercognitive,physicalandsocialpropertiesofhumanbeingsdoesitinteractwithordependon?Whatisn’tlinguistics?Somethingsthatpeoplesometimesconfusewithlinguistics:•Literarystudies•Theteachingandlearningoflanguages•Stylisticsand‘proper’grammar∗Authorsareinalphabeticalorder1Prescription,descriptionandtheory(I)prescriptivegrammar:rulessetdownbysomeauthorityforhowaparticularlanguageshouldbeused,basedon(potentiallyarbitrary)aestheticsdescriptivegrammar:anaccountofhowaparticularlanguageisused,basedonimpartialobser-vationtheoreticalgrammar:anattempttoexplainwhylanguagesarethewaytheyare,basedonde-scriptivegrammarandthescientificmethodPrescription,descriptionandtheory(II)Linguisticsis,again,thescientificstudyoflanguage.So:☞Itisdescriptive,notprescriptive.Alinguistwillnotattemptto‘correct’yourgrammaranymorethanabotanistwouldtryto‘correct’thegrowthofatree.☞Itstrivestobeincreasinglytheoreticalandexplanatory,asthequalityofourdescriptionsgraduallyimproves.2ThearchitectureoflanguageLanguagearchitecture:SoundandmeaningAtitsmostbasic,languagerelatestwothings:sound:thestringofactualsoundsthataspeakerproducesandahearerperceivesmeaning:themessagethatthespeakerintendstogetacrossandthehearertriestodivineStructureThereisgeneralagreementthatthisrelationshipismediated:structure:utterancesaremadeupofsentences,whicharemadeupofphrases,whicharemadeupofwords,whicharemadeupofmorphemes,whicharemadeupofphonemes...Notethencrucially:☞Thisbusinessofonelevelbeing‘madeup’ofthenextleveldownappliestobothsoundandmeaning.☞Themeaningofasentenceismadeupoutofthemeaningsofitsphrases,justasthepronun-ciationofasentenceisbasedonthepronunciationsofitsphrases.Thequestionthenishowthemediationworks.☞Howdoesstructureconnectsoundandmeaning?2TheMinimalistframework,initiatedbyNoamChomskyandcolleagues,arguesthatweshouldassumethesimplest–most‘minimal’–architecturepossible.•Weknowthatsound,meaningandstructureareinvolved,sowemustassumeaplaceforeachofthem.•Butanythingbeyondthatmusthaveconvincingempiricaljustification.•Ifhumanlanguageiswelladaptedtoitstask,suchadditionalbitsandpieceswillbefeworevennone.TheYmodelHere’swhatChomskyproposes:SyntaxPFLF•Thesyntaxcreatesabstractstructures,basicallyputtingwordsandphrasestogetherintherightrelationships.•PF(phoneticform)takesthesestructuresandgivesthemapronounceableshape.•LF(logicalform)takethestructuresanddeterminestheirsemanticinterpretation.Sowecouldparaphraseitlikethis:StructureSoundMeaning3FormalsemanticsFormalsemantics•Semanticsisthatbranchoflinguisticsthatdealswithmeaninginnaturallanguage.•Weusetheterm“naturallanguage”inordertocontrastthiswith“artificial/computerlan-guage”.Computerlanguagesalsohavegrammar,syntax,andmeaningmuchlikenaturallanguagesdo,butareradicallysimplersystemsthanhumanlanguages.•Weusethetermformaltodenoteatreatmentofmeaninggroundedinmathematicallypre-ciseformalismbasedonpredicatelogicandset-theory.Butinordertotalkaboutsemanticsinthisformalmanner,weneedtobeabletocomeupwithaclearandpreciseanswertothefollowingquestion:Whatismeaning?3Thismightseemlikeatrivialand,therefore,needlesslynit-pickytaskatfirstsince,afterall,weallhavesomeideaofwhatmeaningis.Butcomingupwithaformaldefinitionissurprisinglydifficult.Toillustrate,letuscomeupwithsomeanswerstothequestionwe’vejustposedandseewhatproblemsweruninto.Attempt1:Meaningsarewords•Afirstanswercouldbethatmeaningsarewords.•Thisisthefundamentalassumptiononwhichdictionariesarebased.Adictionarydefinesawordintermsofotherwords(eitherinthesamelanguageorinadifferentlanguage).Butthereisafundamentalformalproblemwithdefiningmeaninginthismannernamelythat:•Wecannotstatethemeaningofawordintermsofanotherwordorwords;wecannotdefinelanguageintermsoflanguage.•Thisresultsincircularityorregression.Letusillustratewithanexample.TheLongmandictionaryofEnglishdefineslanguageasfollows:language:asystemofcommunicationbywrittenorspokenwords.Butsupposewedon’tknowwhatawordis,sowelookthatupinthedictionary.TheLongmandefinesawordas:word:thesmallestunitoflanguagethatpeoplecanunderstandifitissaidorwrittenonitsown.Let’spluginthisdefinitionofwordintoourdefinitionforlanguageabove.Doingso,weget:language:asystemofcommunicationbywrittenorspokensmallestunitsoflanguagethatpeoplecanunderstandiftheyissaidorwrittenonitsown.Sonow,thedefinitionoflanguagecontainsthewordlanguageinit.Thiskindofproblemisgenerallyunavoidableinaclosedsystemandleadstoinfiniteregress.Attempt2:MeaningasideasToavoidtheproblemofcircularity,wewanttodefinelinguisticmeaningoutsideoflanguage.Soanotherdefinitionformeaningmightbethatmeaningsareideas.I.e.instead