Recursion and Human Language / / ed. by Harry van der Hulst.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Backlist Complete English Language 2000-2014 PART1
• MitwirkendeR: Gibson, Edward,; Harder, Peter,; Hauser, Marc D.,; Hulst, Harry van der,; Hunyadi, László,; Juarros-Daussà, Eva,; Karlsson, Fred,; Kinsella, Anna R.,; Koster, Jan,; Lander, Yury A.,; Langendoen, D. Terence,; Laury, Ritva,; Letuchiy, Alexander B.,; Levy, Simon D.,; Mithun, Marianne,; Ono, Tsuyoshi,; Perfors, Amy,; Progovac, Ljiljana,; Pullum, Geoffrey K.,; Regier, Terry,; Rogers, James,; Sakel, Jeanette,; Scholz, Barbara C.,; Stapert, Eugenie,; Stout, Lawrence Neff,; Tenenbaum, Joshua B.,; Tiede, Hans-Jörg,; Varley, Rosemary A.,; Verhagen, Arie,; Zimmerer, Vitor,
• HerausgeberIn: Hulst, Harry van der,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Generative Grammar [SGG] , 104
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (416 p.) :; num. figs. and tables

The present volume is an edited collection of original contributions which all deal with the issue of recursion in human language(s). All contributions originate as papers that were presented at a conference on the topic of recursion in human language organized by Dan Everett in March 22, 2007. For the purpose of this collection all articles underwent a double-blind peer-review process. The present chapters were written in the course of 2008. Although the ‘recursive’ nature of linguistic expressions, i.e. the apparent possibility of producing an infinite number of expressions with finite means, has been noted for a long time, no general agreement seems to exist concerning the empirical status as well as mathematical formalization of this ‘characteristic’ of human languages or of the grammars that lie behind these utterances that make up these languages. Renewed interest in this subject was sparked by recent claims that ‘recursion’ is perhaps the sole uniquely human and as such universal trait of human language (cf. Chomsky, Hauser and Fitch 2000). In this volume, the issue of recursion is tackled from a variety of angles. Some articles cover formal issues regarding the proper characterization or definition of recursion, while others focus on empirical issues by examining the kinds of structure in languages that suggest recursive mechanism in the grammar. Most articles discuss syntactic phenomena, but several involve morphology, the lexicon and phonology. In addition, we find discussions that involve evolutionary notions and language disorders, and the broader cognitive context of recursion.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Part I. Discussing the need for recursion on empirical grounds -- 1. Pirahã – in need of recursive syntax? -- 2. The fluidity of recursion and its implications -- 3. Syntactic recursion and iteration -- 4. Recursion in conversation: What speakers of Finnish and Japanese know how to do -- 5. What do you think is the proper place of recursion? Conceptual and empirical issues -- Part II. Formal Issues -- 6. Recursion and the infinitude claim -- 7. Just how big are natural languages? -- 8. Recursion, infinity, and modeling -- 9. How recursive is language? A Bayesian exploration -- Part III. Evolutionary Perspectives -- 10. Was recursion the key step in the evolution of the human language faculty? -- 11. When clauses refuse to be recursive: An evolutionary perspective -- 12. The use of formal language theory in studies of artificial language learning: A proposal for distinguishing the differences between human and nonhuman animal learners -- 13. Over the top: Recursion as a functional option -- Part IV. Recursion and the Lexicon -- 14. Lack of recursion in the lexicon: The two-argument restriction -- 15. Kinds of recursion in Adyghe morphology -- 16. Recursion and the Lexicon -- Part V. Recursion outside Syntax -- 17. A note on recursion in phonology -- 18. Cognitive grouping and recursion in prosody -- 19. Becoming recursive: Toward a computational neuroscience account of recursion in language and thought -- 20. Recursion in severe agrammatism -- Backmatter