25.309, Review: Cognitive Science; Syntax: Moro (2012)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-25-309. Sat Jan 18 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.309, Review: Cognitive Science; Syntax: Moro (2012)

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Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 10:50:05
From: Yosuke Sato [ellys at nus.edu.sg]
Subject: The Equilibrium of Human Syntax

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-277.html

AUTHOR: Andrea  Moro
TITLE: The Equilibrium of Human Syntax
SUBTITLE: Symmetries of the Brain
SERIES TITLE: Routledge Leading Linguists
PUBLISHER: Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
YEAR: 2012

REVIEWER: Yosuke Sato, National University of Singapore

SUMMARY 

This book is a collection of work conducted by Andrea Moro in two different,
though intersecting, fields of generative syntax and neurolinguistics.  It
starts with the author’s retrospective introduction of his work collected
here. The book consists of two parts. Part I (“Symmetry (Breaking) in Syntax”)
reproduces his papers on copular constructions, existential sentences and,
among others, on his influential theory of Dynamic Antisymmetry (DA).  Part II
(“The Boundaries of Babel: How the Brain Shapes Grammars”) includes papers
reporting results of various neuroimaging experiments bearing on important
issues such as selective anomalies, brain sensitivity to recursive vs.
non-recursive rules, and the neuropsychological effects of sentential negation
in the brain.

Part I consists of two sections -- “Inversion and Clause Structure” and
“Clause Structure Folding and Other Left Peripheral Issues”.  Section 1, in
turn, has two sub-sections – “Copular Syntax” and “Symmetry, Movement and
Locality in Syntax”. In the first chapter of section 1.1, Moro proposes a
unified analysis of canonical and inverse copular sentences. Examples (1a, b)
illustrate the two types of sentences:

(1)a.    [A picture of the wall] is [the cause of the riot].  (Canonical
copular sentence)
b.   [The cause of the riot] is [a picture of the wall]. (Inverse copular
sentence)

Moro proposes that the subject and predicative NPs occupy the specifier and
complement of the independent Agr head, respectively. The two types of
sentences are derived by raising either the first NP or the second NP to
[Spec, T]. The second chapter explores consequences of this analysis for
locality. An inverse copular clause blocks extraction both from the postverbal
NP and of the NP itself. This is explained by a locality theory which
encompasses both Subjacency and the Empty Category Principle (ECP). This
hybrid theory is supported by the fact that in Italian existential
constructions, extraction from the postverbal NP is fine but extraction of the
NP is not. The third chapter discusses further anomalies of inverse copular
sentences in Italian and demonstrates how the unified theory can accommodate
them. The fourth chapter proposes a new analysis of “there”-existential
constructions as a subtype of inverse copular sentences: “there” is the raised
placeholder for the predicate, not for the subject of the predication, as
assumed since Milsark (1974) and Chomsky (1981). This alternative analysis
provides a simple explanation for otherwise mysterious properties of
existential constructions in English and Italian concerning extraction,
cliticization, and secondary predicates. The fifth chapter outlines a history
of analyses of the copula, reviewing the definitions of the term proposed by
Aristotle, Abelard, Russel, Jespersen and Chomsky.

The first chapter of section 1.2 suggests a new uniform characterization of
the notion of proper governors central to the ECP. Chomsky (1986) attempted to
reduce the ECP to antecedent government whereas Rizzi (1990) attempted to
reduce it to head government. Moro proposes that a rather straightforward
characterization of proper governor becomes readily available once we
consider the role of agreement. The second chapter proposes movement as a
symmetry-breaking phenomenon. Within the standard minimalist framework
(Chomsky 1995), movement occurs for morphological reasons. Moro shows that
this theory cannot account for the fact that the subject of an inverse copular
sentence cannot be moved. Consider the inverse copular sentence in (2) (where
SC stands for Small Clause): both DPs in (2) should be able to move to the
specifier of the relevant functional heads to check their formal features such
as Case features.

(2) *  [Which pictures]i do you think [the cause of the riot]j is [SC ti tj]?
(p. 153)

Adopting a weaker version of Kayne’s (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom, Moro
proposes an alternative theory of DA, which states “…Universal grammar allows
the generation of points of symmetry, provided that the set of terminal nodes
dominated by either non-terminal node constituting this point of symmetry be
moved” (p. 155).  This theory correctly predicts that in SC configurations
like (3a), one of the NPs can and must be raised to the pre-copular position.

(3)a.   [SC [these pictures] [the cause of the riot]]
     b.  [these pictures] are [SC t [the cause of the riot]]
     c.  [the cause of the riot] is [SC [these pictures] t]]    (p. 158)

The third chapter situates DA along the lines of the suggestion made by
Chomsky (2001) that central syntactic properties may be explained in terms of
conditions imposed on the language faculty by physical laws. Moro argues that
movement occurs “as a consequence of the physical necessity to organize words
into a linear order” (p. 179) or linear compression. One major consequence of
this theory is that natural language should exhibit “mirror structures”, where
two elements X and Y constitute a point of symmetry and can occur in either
order. He shows that this prediction is indeed borne out across a wide range
of cases encompassing IP, AP and DP domains. The last chapter considers why
pro-insertion cannot save SC configurations of the form [pro copula [SC XP
YP]] and suggests that this configuration is ill-formed because the label of
the SC is underdetermined, rendering the search domain for any head ambiguous.

The first chapter of section 2 argues that the apparent wh-in-situ effect in
Italian arises from the process of “clause structure folding” (p. 210). This
process is illustrated in (4d).

(4)a.  …  [TP  wh-phrase1 … wh-phrase2]
     b.  …  [wh-phrase2 C [wh-phrase1  C  [TP  …  t1 … t2]]]
     c.  …  [   [(e)] [wh-phrase2 C [wh-phrase1 C [TP … t1 … t2 …]]]]
d.  …  [[wh-phrase1  C [TP … t1 … t2]]j  [[(e)] [wh-phrase2 C tj]]]]
(p. 224)

Both wh-phrases move to [Spec, C]. After the coordinator “e” is introduced,
the lower portion of the CP is moved to [Spec, e] moving across the
wh-phrase2. This analysis provides a principled account for various facts
including coordination, free relatives, and selective interpretations of
negation.

The second chapter introduces diagnostics for vocative phrases in Italian and
suggests a new analysis of such phrases within Rizzi’s (1997) cartographic
theory.

Part II consists of three sections: “Syntax in the Brain,” “Impossible
Languages,” and “How Much World is There in the Language?”. The first chapter
of section 1 reports on the results of an experiment to answer the intriguing
question whether the syntactic module has a dedicated neurophysiological
correlate. The experiment ingeniously designed language stimuli
(pseudo-Italian) where all lexical roots are substituted by invented roots
while keeping functional morphemes preserved to isolate dedicated correlates
of morphosyntactic and syntactic processing (agreement errors and word order
errors, respectively). The experiment tested the brain activations of the
subjects who were asked to covertly read sentences presented visually and make
acceptability judgments at three levels: syntactic, morphosyntactic and
phonotactic levels. The results of this experiment are encouraging in
suggesting that “it is a specific portion of Broca’s area (i.e., Ba 45) within
the depth of the lateral sulcus in the inferior frontal gyrus, to be activated
by both the morphosyntactic and the syntactic task” (p. 257). The second
chapter explores neural substrates of language switch by bilingual speakers
during sentence comprehension.  The stimuli used in this experiment were of
two types: regular switches which respect the constituency of sentence
structures vs. irregular switches which violate the constituency. The
experiment investigated the imaging results of Italian/French bilinguals. The
results of the experiment show that “the activation of regions related to
lexical processing, such as the left Ba 37, was specific for regular switches,
whereas irregular switches resulted in the activation of the opercular portion
of Broca’s area and the LIPL.” (p. 273).

The first chapter of section 2 investigates activation loci of adults’ brains
through the fMRI when they acquire UG-compliant rules (G rules) vis-à-vis
UG-non-compliant rules (NG rules). In the experiment reported here,
Italian-speaking subjects silently read sentences which include either G- or
NG-rules: the former are based on hierarchical relations whereas the latter
are based on the absolute position of some elements within the linear sequence
of words. The results of the experiment show that “G rules activated the
opercular portion of Broca’s area (Ba 44), the left dorsal premotor area (Ba
6), and the left angular gyrus (Ba 39)” whereas “NG rules activated the right
middle frontal gyrus (Ba 46) and the right superior parietal lobule (Ba7).”
(p. 291). This result argues for selective participation of Broca’s area in
the acquisition of hierarchical grammatical rules of syntax as opposed to
linear-based rules.

The second chapter reports on an experiment which exposed German speakers to
grammatical/hierarchy-based rules of Italian/Japanese and artificial
ungrammatical/linear-based rules of the unreal languages based on selective
manipulations of the two languages to measure their brain reactions to
judgments of the two types of rules by means of fMRI techniques. The results
of this experiment are taken to suggest that Broca’s area is specialized for
processing hierarchical structures rather than linear structures. It is also
reported that subjects’ reaction times became progressively faster during the
real grammatical tasks than during the unreal grammatical tasks.

The final chapter corroborates the major conclusion reached in the previous
chapter by using non-linguistic symbols under two conditions: in non-rigid
syntactic dependencies (NRSDs), two symbols agree in color and size and their
position varies freely whereas in right syntactic dependencies (RSDs), two
symbols not only agree in color and size but also occur in an absolute fixed
order. The fMRI data analysis showed that “the bilateral fronto-parietal
network engaged by the acquisition of symbol-based syntax was largely
equivalent to the network engaged by the acquisition of word-based syntax” (p.
335). This result indicates that NRSD is not specific to particular cognitive
domains such as language.

The first chapter of section 3 studies the modulatory effects of sentential
negation on the neural systems activated by action-related vs. abstract
propositions. In the fMRI experiment reported here, participants were asked to
listen to sentences characterized by a factorial combination of polarity
(affirmation vs. negation) and concreteness (action-related vs. abstract). It
is shown on the basis of functional integration analyses that the modularity
effects for action-related as opposed to abstract sentences were stronger in
affirmative than in negative sentences. This result is taken to support the
view that activation spread into conceptual systems is reduced in the case of
sentential negation.

The second chapter critically reviews the so-called Mirror Neuron System (MNS)
theory of language as applied to phonetics, semantics and syntax. It is stated
that such a theory is quite limited in scope despite the fact that some
aspects of phonetic and semantic processing seem amenable to perceptuo-motor
functions. The main argument of this chapter is that an MNS theory is
particularly unsuitable for syntax because syntactic structures are
two-dimensional complex objects, rendering them inaccessible to any direct
sensory perception. This does not mean, however, that the internal
computational capacities for syntax may never interact with the
perceptuo-motor system. The results from the experiment reported in the
previous chapter are mentioned here as one case where the two systems can
interact. The third chapter suggests that human language could be viewed as
“kataptation”, namely, “the persistence in a population of a trait that
survives unmodified even if the original function that the trait was selected
for disappeared and no other function has replaced it” (p. 390), just on a par
with the QWERTY layout which currently prevails in our electronic computers
despite its synchronically unexplainable function.

The last chapter contains a critical review of the quantitative
neuropsychological data from Pallier et al. (2011) suggesting that words are
combined into hierarchical structures rather than linearly ordered. The
chapter discusses various issues raised by this research, including
compatibility of their results with independent discoveries in the field, the
kinds of experiments to be expected in the future and the possible reduction
of central syntactic features to extra-linguistic capacities.

EVALUATION

Part I provides the reader with the unique opportunity to chronologically
track the development of syntactic research and thinking by Moro in the last
25 years. Moro mentions that “... theories ... do not ... come from envisaging
a new world system as a whole but as the catastrophic effect of solutions to
specific problems” (p. 3). The papers collected in Part I are impeccable
testimony to this statement; the unified transformational analysis of
canonical and inverse copular sentences developed in his undergraduate honor
thesis, whose synthesis is collected in the first chapter of section 1.1,
allows him to draw far-reaching empirical and theoretical consequences for
many other areas of syntactic theorizing (e.g., the predicate-theory of
expletives, the agreement-based approach to the notion of proper governors,
dynamic antisymmetry, symmetry-breaking, linear compression and the
underdetermined theory of labeling). Nobody knows whether his/her solution to
a particular empirical problem will turn out to yield a new deep understanding
of syntax later in his/her lifetime but every reader should be amazed by
Moro’s gifted ability to originate theoretical advances in syntax through the
apparently simple analysis of a simple paradigm he proposed some 25 years ago.

The chapters in Part II include many details regarding experimental stimuli
and data analyses which go beyond the limited capacity of theoretical
syntacticians (myself included), but the rationale behind, and the design of,
each experiment reported here is laid out very clearly. The various
neuroimaging experiments are all unique attempts to identify exclusive
neurophysiological correlates of foundational postulates hypothesized by the
generative enterprise (e.g., constituent structure, hierarchy vs. linear
order, NRSDs vs. RSDs) and to test the contrasting predictions of various
approaches (e.g., MNS theories) to language acquisition and evolution. The
chapters also show that neurolinguistic experiments like the ones reported
here are only possible when backed up by solid understandings of core
architectural design features of human language syntax.

For syntacticians, this volume should allow them an exciting glimpse into the
development of Moro’s own thinking on various issues in generative theory from
1988 to the present.  For neurolinguists, the volume should inform them what
kinds of neuroimaging experiments are to be expected in the future based on
the current state of the art in syntactic research. Either way, there is no
denying that this book represents a unique and fruitful integration of
theoretical syntax and neurolinguistics by one of the most brilliant
contemporary minds.

REFERENCES

Milsark, G. 1974. Existential sentences in English. Doctoral dissertation,
MIT.

Chomsky, N. 1981. Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.

Chomsky, N. 1986. Barriers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Chomsky, N. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Chomsky, N. 2001. Beyond explanatory adequacy. MITWPL 20. Department of
Linguistics and Philosophy: MIT.

Kayne, R. 1994. The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Pallier, C., Devauchelle, A.D., & Dehaene, S. 2011. Cortical representation of
the constituent structure of sentences. Proceedings of the National Academy of
sciences USA 108: 2522-2527.

Rizzi, L. 1990. Relativized minimality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Rizzi, L. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Liliane Haegeman
(ed.), Elements of grammar, Dordrecht: Kluwer.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Yosuke Sato received his PhD in linguistics in 2008 from the University of
Arizona, Tucson. He is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of
English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore. He
works on syntactic theory and linguistics interfaces from the perspective of
Asian languages (esp. Indonesian, Javanese, Malay, Japanese) and World
Englishes (Singapore English). He has published his research in journals such
as Linguistic Inquiry, Journal of East Asian Linguistics, Journal of
Linguistics, Syntax, and Studia Linguistica. His current interests revolve
around syntactic mechanisms of contact-induced changes and the evolution of
the human language faculty.








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