17.2831, Books: Linguistic Theories/Syntax: Reinhart

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LINGUIST List: Vol-17-2831. Fri Sep 29 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.2831, Books: Linguistic Theories/Syntax: Reinhart

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1)
Date: 25-Sep-2006
From: Diane Denner < denner at mit.edu >
Subject: Interface Strategies: Reinhart 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:41:03
From: Diane Denner < denner at mit.edu >
Subject: Interface Strategies: Reinhart 
 



Title: Interface Strategies 
Subtitle: Optimal and Costly Computation 
Series Title: Linguistic Inquiry Monographs  

Publication Year: 2006 
Publisher: MIT Press
	   http://mitpress.mit.edu/
	

Book URL: http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262182505 


Author: Tanya Reinhart, Utrecht University

Hardback: ISBN: 0262182505 Pages: 336 Price: U.S. $ 70.00
Paperback: ISBN: 0262681560 Pages: 336 Price: U.S. $ 32.00


Abstract:

In this monograph Tanya Reinhart discusses strategies enabling the
interface of different cognitive systems, which she identifies as the
systems of concepts, inference, context, and sound. Her point of departure
is Noam Chomsky's hypothesis that language is optimally designed - namely,
that in many cases, the bare minimum needed for constructing syntactic
derivations is sufficient for the full needs of the interface. Deviations
from this principle are viewed as imperfections.

The book covers in depth four areas of the interface:  quantifier scope,
focus, anaphora resolution, and implicatures. The first question in each
area is what makes the computational system (CS, syntax) legible to the
other systems at the interface - how much of the information needed for the
interface is coded already in the CS, and how it is coded. Next Reinhart
argues that in each of these areas there are certain aspects of meaning and
use that cannot be coded in the CS formal language, on both conceptual and
empirical grounds. This residue is governed by interface strategies that
can be viewed as repair of imperfections. They require constructing and
comparing a reference set of alternative derivations to determine whether a
repair operation is indeed the only way to meet the interface requirements. 

Evidence that reference-set computation applies in these four areas comes
from language acquisition. The required computation poses severe load on
working memory. While adults can cope with this load, children, whose
working memory is less developed, fail in tasks requiring this computation. 



Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories
                     Syntax


Written In: English  (eng)
	
See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=21456


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