A Naturalist Reconstruction of Minimalist and Evolutionary Biolinguistics

Kinsella & Marcus (2009; K&M) argue that considerations of biological evolution invalidate the picture of optimal language design put forward under the rubric of the minimalist program (Chomsky 1993 et seq.), but in this article it will be pointed out that K&M’s objection is undermined by (i) their misunderstanding of minimalism as imposing an aprioristic presumption of optimality and (ii) their failure to discuss the third factor of language design. It is proposed that the essence of K&M’s suggestion be reconstructed as the sound warning that one should refrain from any preconceptions about the object of inquiry, to which K&M commit themselves based on their biased view of evolution. A different reflection will be cast on the current minimalist literature, arguably along the lines K&M envisaged but never completed, converging on a recommendation of methodological (and, in a somewhat unconventional sense, metaphysical) naturalism.

[1]  Noam Chomsky.  Language and Nature , 1995 .

[2]  C. Cherniak.  Innateness and brain-wiring optimization: non-genomic nativism , 2006 .

[3]  Luigi Rizzi,et al.  The structure of CP and IP , 2004 .

[4]  R. Dawkins.  The Blind Watchmaker , 1986 .

[5]  Noam Chomsky.  A minimalist program for linguistic theory , 1992 .

[6]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden? , 2009 .

[7]  Frederick J. Newmeyer,et al.  A rejoinder to 'On the role of parameters in Universal Grammar: a reply to Newmeyer' by Ian Roberts and Anders Holmberg , 2006 .

[8]  S. Pinker,et al.  The faculty of language: what's special about it? , 2005, Cognition.

[9]  G. Marcus,et al.  Evolution, Perfection, and Theories of Language , 2009, Biolinguistics.

[10]  Meredith V. Trotter,et al.  Robustness and evolvability. , 2010, Trends in genetics : TIG.

[11]  Koji Fujita,et al.  Facing the Logical Problem of Language Evolution (L. Jenkins, Variation and Universals in Biolinguistics ) , 2007 .

[12]  H. Gierse.  The cancellous structure in the calcaneus and its relation to mechanical stressing , 1976, Anatomy and Embryology.

[13]  Cedric Boeckx,et al.  The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Minimalism , 2011 .

[14]  Richard S. Kayne.  Antisymmetry and the lexicon , 2009 .

[15]  Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini,et al.  Language and Learning: The Debate Between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky , 1980 .

[16]  Juan Uriagereka,et al.  On the Metaphysics of Linguistics , 2006 .

[17]  S. Anderson.  The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory , 2009 .

[18]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  The Minimalist Program , 1992 .

[19]  W. Strange.  Evolution of language. , 1984, JAMA.

[20]  G. Marcus.  Kluge : the haphazard evolution of the human mind , 2009 .

[21]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  New horizons in the study of language , 1997 .

[22]  Jordan B. Peterson.  The Meaning of Meaning , 2007 .

[23]  Hiroki Narita,et al.  The Tension between Explanatory and Biological Adequacy: A Review of Theoretical Comparative Syntax: Studies in Macroparameters, Naoki Fukui, Routledge, London and New York (2006). ISBN-13: 978-0415341035, USD185.00 , 2010 .

[24]  Guglielmo Cinque,et al.  Functional structure in DP and IP , 2002 .

[25]  Naoki Fukui,et al.  Merge and Bare Phrase Structure , 2011 .

[26]  Juan Uriagereka.  Multiple spell-out , 2005 .

[27]  Juan Uriagereka,et al.  Derivations: Exploring the Dynamics of Syntax , 2002 .

[28]  A. Bennett.  The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection; or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life , 1872, Nature.

[29]  Yuji Takano,et al.  Symmetry in Syntax: Merge and Demerge , 1998 .

[30]  P. Baldry.  Introduction to the third edition , 2005 .

[31]  Ray Jackendoff.  Your theory of language evolution depends on your theory of language , 2010 .

[32]  Koji Fujita,et al.  FACING THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE EVOLUTION , 2007 .

[33]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  Minimalist inquiries : the framework , 1998 .

[34]  鎌田 浩二.  書評 Juan Uriagereka: Rhyme and Reason: An Introduction to Minimalist Syntax , 2000 .

[35]  Koji Fujita,et al.  A Prospect for Evolutionary Adequacy: Merge and the Evolution and Development of Human Language , 2009, Biolinguistics.

[36]  J. Fodor,et al.  What Darwin Got Wrong , 2010 .

[37]  Raul Rodriguez-Esteban,et al.  Global optimization of cerebral cortex layout. , 2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[38]  P. Godfrey‐Smith.  Adaptationism and Optimality: Three Kinds of Adaptationism , 2001 .

[39]  W. Hinzen.  Mind Design and Minimal Syntax , 2006 .

[40]  Richard S. Kayne.  The Antisymmetry of Syntax , 1994 .

[41]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  Beyond explanatory adequacy . Eliminating labels , 2001 .

[42]  Luigi Rizzi,et al.  The Cartography of Syntactic Structures , 2009 .

[43]  F. Newmeyer.  Possible and probable languages: A generative perspective on linguistic typology , 2008 .

[44]  Two Critics Without a Clue , 2010, Science.

[45]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  On Nature and Language , 2002 .

[46]  马志刚.  语言研究中的最简思想述评--Linguistic Minimalism评介 , 2011 .

[47]  Naoki Fukui,et al.  Theoretical Comparative Syntax: Studies in Macroparameters , 2006 .

[48]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  Cartesian Linguistics: A Chapter in the History of Rationalist Thought , 1966 .

[49]  Denise Brandão de Oliveira e Britto,et al.  The faculty of language , 2007 .

[50]  C. K. Ogden,et al.  The Meaning of Meaning , 1923 .

[51]  C. R. Taylor,et al.  The concept of symmorphosis: a testable hypothesis of structure-function relationship. , 1991, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[52]  D. Stoljar,et al.  Two Conceptions of the Physical , 2001 .

[53]  S. J. Keyser,et al.  The View from Building 20: Essays in Linguistics in Honor of Sylvain Bromberger , 1993 .

[54]  Noam Chomsky.  Derivation by phase , 1999 .

[55]  Marcus Tomalin,et al.  Goodman, Quine, and Chomsky: from a grammatical point of view , 2003 .

[56]  I. Roberts,et al.  On the role of parameters in universal grammar: a reply to Newmeyer , 2005 .

[57]  T. Shanahan.  The evolution of Darwinism : selection, adaptation, and progress in evolutionary biology , 2001 .

[58]  B. J. Meira.  Adverbs and functional heads: a cross-linguistic perspective , 2011 .

[59]  Cedric Boeckx.  A tale of two minimalisms: Reflections on the plausibility of crash-proof syntax, and its free-merge alternative , 2010 .

[60]  Noam Chomsky.  Approaching UG from Below , 2006 .

[61]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  Biolinguistic Explorations: Design, Development, Evolution , 2007 .

[62]  Noam Chomsky.  Three Factors in Language Design , 2005, Linguistic Inquiry.

[63]  Richard S. Kayne.  ANTISYMMETRY AND JAPANESE , 2003 .

[64]  Juan Uriagereka.  Syntactic Anchors: On Semantic Structuring , 2008 .