19.2786, Disc: Review of 'Chomsky's Minimalism'
LINGUIST Network
linguist at LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Sat Sep 13 00:36:02 UTC 2008
LINGUIST List: Vol-19-2786. Fri Sep 12 2008. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.
Subject: 19.2786, Disc: Review of 'Chomsky's Minimalism'
Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
Reviews: Randall Eggert, U of Utah
<reviews at linguistlist.org>
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/
The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University,
and donations from subscribers and publishers.
Editor for this issue: Catherine Adams <catherin at linguistlist.org>
================================================================
To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.
===========================Directory==============================
1)
Date: 11-Sep-2008
From: Michael Maxwell < maxwell at umiacs.umd.edu >
Subject: Review of 'Chomsky's Minimalism'
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:34:28
From: Michael Maxwell [maxwell at umiacs.umd.edu]
Subject: Review of 'Chomsky's Minimalism'
E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=19-2786.html&submissionid=189905&topicid=5&msgnumber=1
Discuss this message: http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=55999
In response to the comments on whether syntax comes before semantics (in
the context of the review of ''Chomsky's Minimalism'', see link below), I
suspect that this is a misunderstanding of the meaning of the arrows. The
arrows refer to a derivational relationship, not a temporal one.
In this respect, they are similar to the arrows in phonological rules (back
when phonology was done with rules...). The fact that the arrow in a
phonological rule pointed in one direction did not imply that it was not
possible to run the process in reverse. At least one parser (my Hermit
Crab) was built that was quite capable of running phonological rules in
either direction, and today's finite state transducers are routinely used
to convert between phonological representations in either direction.
I don't know whether the translation between semantics and syntax can be
done with finite state transducers, but I am reasonably certain that the
mapping is bidirectional, although it may be ambiguous in one or both
directions. If this is true, then the direction that the arrows point is
largely irrelevant.
Read Review: http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-1890.html
Mike Maxwell
CASL/ U MD
Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories
Syntax
-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-19-2786
More information about the LINGUIST
mailing list