Biolinguistics and the human language faculty

Sciullo, Anna Maria Di; Jenkins, Lyle

doi:10.1353/lan.2016.0056

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 133 publications

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“…Maximize Asymmetry Principles reduce choice points in the derivation and the externalization of linguistic expressions. Such Principles are akin to natural laws discussed in the development of the shape of bipartite biological organisms, as discussed in Palmer (2004Palmer ( , 2005 and Di Sciullo and Jenkins (2016) among others.…”

Section: Summary and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Independent evidence for the diachronic change in the pronunciation/silence of the proposition in locative determiners comes form the diachronic development of the comitative P-Pronoun structures, from Latin cum me, me cum 'with me, me with', to Old Italian con me co 'with me with', to modern Italian con me, 'with me' where the lower preposition co is no longer pronounced (Di Sciullo et al, in press). Given language acquisition and languages in contact, variation can be further explained in terms of the interaction of the grammar internal computational procedure with third factor principles of efficient computation (Di Sciullo and Jenkins 2016). We investigated the consequences of the hypothesis that symmetry breaking, as a principle of efficient computation, could contribute to explain the diachronic variation in the order of a functional category with respect to its complement.…”

Section: Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation in the pronunciation/silence of the prepositions in locative determiners

Sciullo

2017

Proc Ling Soc Amer

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Abstract. We argue that the micro-variation observed in the pronunciation/silence of the prepositional head of locative determiners in Fallese, a dialect spoken in Abruzzi, follows from the option of valuing features by either External Merge or by Internal Merge, given Spell-Out conditions, whereas this option is not available in English and Italian. It follows that the prepositional head is silent in Italian and English, whereas it can be pronounced in Fallese when the Specifier of the locative determiner is not filled. We show that this feature-based approach to micro-variation, in conjunction with principles of efficient computation, makes correct predictions for the pronunciation of the prepositional head in other functional categories, as well as it makes predictions on the diachronic development of locative determiners Latin to Fallese and from Latin to Italian', otherwise it looks like Fallese is an old stage of Italian.

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Section: Summary and Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the pronunciation/silence of the prepositions in locative determiners

Sciullo

2017

Proc Ling Soc Amer

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“…Perhaps the first of these is the new appreciation and celebration in academic work of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavours incorporating language studies with other natural sciences. Such appreciation has been translated explicitly in Jenkins’ aforementioned edited volume [ 18 ]; many of its contributions have been reviewed as comprehensive introductory texts [ 25 ]. Similarly, Sciullo and Boeckx, edited a comprehensive volume in biolinguistics, which was perceived as the result of two interdisciplinary conferences in 2007 [ 26 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In accordance with this, it is possible to identify many fields of study as included within biolinguistics. Di Sciullo and Jenkins [ 25 ] (p. 277) enumerate an extensive list of what subfields constitute biolinguistics including: Theoretical linguistics (syntax, morphology, phonology, lexicon, etc.) Computational linguistics and parsing Mathematical modelling and simulation Child language acquisition and multilingualism Comparative linguistics (e.g., typology) Perceptual studies Speech disorders (developmental verbal dyspraxia, language impairment, dyslexia, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All in all, it is possible to see in this concise review that biolinguistics, as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry, has revolved and blossomed tremendously over the course of the last seventy years. Being described across different times as a quite promising field of inquiry [ 25 , 48 ], it is possible to say that biolinguistics has continuously had high expectations as it unfolds. Fitch [ 49 ] (p. 455), suggests that with the way this “broad, data-driven” field unfolded throughout these decades, it is fair to say that it has “aged well”.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biolinguistics: A Scientometric Analysis of Research on (Children’s) Molecular Genetics of Speech and Language (Disorders)

et al. 2022

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There are numerous children and adolescents throughout the world who are either diagnosed with speech and language disorders or manifest any of them as a result of another disorder. Meanwhile, since the emergence of language as an innate capability, the question of whether it constitutes a behaviour or an innate ability has been debated for decades. There have been several theories developed that support and demonstrate the biological foundations of human language. Molecular evidence of the biological basis of language came from the FOXP2 gene, also known as the language gene. Taking a closer look at both human language and biology, biolinguistics is at the core of these inquiries—attempting to understand the aetiologies of the genetics of speech and language disorders in children and adolescents. This paper presents empirical evidence based on both scientometrics and bibliometrics. We collected data between 1935 and 2022 from Scopus, WOS, and Lens. A total of 1570 documents were analysed from Scopus, 1440 from the WOS, and 5275 from Lens. Bibliometric analysis was performed using Excel based on generated reports from these three databases. CiteSpace 5.8.R3 and VOSviewer 1.6.18 were used to conduct the scientometric analysis. Eight bibliometric and eight scientometric indicators were used to measure the development of the field of biolinguistics, including but not limited to the production size of knowledge, the most examined topics, and the most frequent concepts and variables. A major finding of our study is identifying the most examined topic in the genetics of speech and language disorders. These included: gestural communication, structural design, cultural evolution, neural network, language tools, human language faculty, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, and theoretical perspective on language evolution.

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A revival of Homo loquens as a builder of labeled structures: Neurocognitive considerations

Goucha

Zaccarella

Friederici

2017

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Biolinguistics and the human language faculty

Cited by 7 publications

References 133 publications

Variation in the pronunciation/silence of the prepositions in locative determiners

Variation in the pronunciation/silence of the prepositions in locative determiners

Biolinguistics: A Scientometric Analysis of Research on (Children’s) Molecular Genetics of Speech and Language (Disorders)

A revival of Homo loquens as a builder of labeled structures: Neurocognitive considerations

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