Understanding the architecture of language: the possible role of neurology.
Culicover and Jackendoff have recently described an approach to language representation where semantic structure works, alongside syntax, as a generative system with its own structure and principles of composition. Well-known neurological observations support this view. They show that in the presence of a syntactic impairment, comprehension can take place but only if the sentence's semantic structure is rich enough. This would suggest the existence of syntax-independent semantic combinatorial mechanisms, as Culicover and Jackendoff's model proposes.
Piñango
Maria Mercedes
MM
Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8366, USA. maria.pinango@yale.edu
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D012660:Semantics