Principles and parameters
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Principles and parameters is a framework in generative linguistics. Principles and parameters was largely formulated by the linguists Noam Chomsky and Howard Lasnik, though it was the culmination of the research of many linguists. Today, many linguists have adopted this framework, and it is considered the dominant form of mainstream linguistics.
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[edit] The Framework
The central idea of principles and parameters is that a person's syntactic knowledge can be modelled with two formal mechanisms:
- A finite set of fundamental principles that are common to all languages; e.g., that a sentence must always have a subject, even if it is not overtly pronounced.
- A finite set of parameters that determine syntactic variability amongst languages; e.g., a binary parameter that determines whether or not the subject of a sentence must be overtly pronounced (this example is sometimes referred to as the Pro-drop parameter).
Within this framework, the goal of linguistics is to identify all of the principles and parameters that are universal to human language (called: Universal Grammar). As such, any attempt to explain the syntax of a particular language using a principle or parameter is cross-examined with the evidence available in other languages. This leads to continual refinement of the theoretical machinery of generative linguistics in an attempt to account for as much syntactic variation in human language as possible.
[edit] Language acquisition
According to this framework, principles and parameters are part of a genetically innate universal grammar (UG) which all humans possess, barring any genetic disorders. As such, principles and parameters do not need to be learned by exposure to language. Rather, exposure to language merely triggers the parameters to adopt the correct setting.
[edit] Universal Grammar and the Brain
By using neuroimaging techniques it has been recently proved that Broca's area - a portion of the left inferior frontal part of the human brain-reacts selectively to all and only those languages that follow Universal Grammar. For example, if one construes an artificial language where syntactic rules are based on the linear order of words rather than the hierarchical structure of phrases, Broca's area does not play an active role when managing this rule. In fact, in all human languages only hierarchy matters rather than linear order in each and every syntactic rule. A simple example is given by the rule of question formation in English sentences involving the copula such as "John is a friend of the girl who is sitting in front of me". The corresponding interrogative question is "is John a friend of the girl who is sitting in front of me?" vs. *"is John is a friend of the girls who sitting in front of me?" but the rule cannot be captured by assuming that it is the first occurrence of the verb that is fronted. In fact, in a simple sentence like "John who is a good cook is a friend of mine" the rule would be falsified, for the correct sentence would be the one where the second occurrence of the verb is fronted: *"is John who a good cook is a friend of mine?" vs. "is John who is a friend of mine a good cook?". To know which verb is to be moved we must rely on the notion of phrase structure - distinguishing for example between the matrix clause vs the embedded one (a relative clause) - rather than the linear order of words on the sequence. Summarizing, it is only with phrase structure rules that Broca's area gets activated not with linear ones. See Broca's area for references.
[edit] Criticism
Criticism of principles and parameters has most often been due to its stance on language acquisition. Although the framework is accepted by most mainstream linguists, it is very controversial amongst psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists due to the strong nativism it espouses in relation to language acquisition. For example, the developmental psychologist Michael Tomasello has argued that there is no evidence of innate linguistic knowledge in the early utterances of children.
Another source of criticism is the binary nature of parameters in the framework. For example, the linguist Larry Trask argues that the ergative case system of the Basque language is not a simple binary parameter, and that different languages can have different levels of ergativity.[1]
[edit] Minimalist program
The influence of principles and parameters is most apparent in the works of linguists who subscribe to the Minimalist Program, Noam Chomsky's most recent contribution to linguistics. This program of research utilizes conceptions of economy to enhance the search for universal principles and parameters. Linguists in this program assume that humans use as economic a system as possible in their innate syntactic knowledge.
[edit] Examples
Examples of theorized principles are:
- Structure preservation principle
- Trace erasure principle
- Projection principle
Examples of theorized parameters are:
- Ergative case parameter
- Head directionality parameter
- Nominal mapping parameter
- Null subject parameter
- Polysynthesis parameter
- Pro-drop parameter
- Serial verb parameter
- Subject placement parameter
- Subject side parameter
- Topic prominent parameter
- Verb attraction parameter
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Baker, M. (2001). The Atoms of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules of Grammar. Basic Bks.
- Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on Government and Binding. Mouton de Gruyter.
- Chomsky, N. and Lasnik, H. (1993) Principles and Parameters Theory, in Syntax: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, Berlin: de Gruyter.
- Chomsky, N. (1995) The Minimalist Program (Current Studies in Linguistics). MIT Press.
- Lightfoot, D. (1982). The Language Lottery: Towards a Biology of Grammars. MIT Press.
- Musso, M., Moro, A. , Glauche. V., Rijntjes, M., Reichenbach, J., Büchel, C., Weiller, C. “Broca’s area and the language instinct,” Nature neuroscience, 2003, vol.6, pp. 774-78
