36.984, Books: Essays on Linguistic Neurocircuitry: Galasso (2025)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-36-984. Fri Mar 21 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.984, Books: Essays on Linguistic Neurocircuitry: Galasso (2025)

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Date: 20-Mar-2025
From: Ulrich Lueders [contact at lincom.eu]
Subject: Essays on Linguistic Neurocircuitry: Galasso (2025)


Title: Essays on Linguistic Neurocircuitry
Subtitle: AI, Recursive Networks, and a Merge-based Theory of Early
Child Syntactic Structure
Series Title: LINCOM Studies in Neurolinguistics 05
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Lincom GmbH
           https://lincom-shop.eu/
Book URL:
https://lincom-shop.eu/epages/57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce-c666fc88085d.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce-c666fc88085d/Products/%22ISBN%209783969392409%22

Author(s): Joseph Galasso

ISBN 9783969392409 (paperback(, 17x24 cm, EUR 74.80.

Abstract:

One of the leading questions burning in the minds of most
developmental linguists is: To what extent do biological factors such
as brain maturation play a role in the early stages of syntactic
development? The proposed theoretical framework―a 'Merge-based Theory'
of Child Language Acquisition―is applied here to the earliest
observable stages of child syntax which demonstrates a complete
absence of movement operations. The working hypothesis throughout
these essays is that young children's syntactic parsers―as delimited
by neurological underdevelopment, perhaps specifically pegged to the
basal ganglia region of the brain―are initially unable to advance MOVE
up the syntactic tree (whereby MOVEment would thus save the derivation
from being sent off immediately to early semantic transfer). Hence, we
might suggest, as a metaphor of sorts owing to this lack of movement,
that 'Small children's sentences are “Dead on Arrival”' (as the author
claims elsewhere, JCLAD, 2015, vol. 3). The general tenor of these
essays―coupled with findings relevant to discussions of 'How the brain
works' (both at algorithmic and neuro-network levels)―supports an
initial 'merge-only' stage of child syntax which can account for a
rather wide spectrum of implications leading to the impoverished state
of early child syntax. Using Chomsky's current Minimalist Program (MP)
framework, Joseph Galasso adopts a 'Merge-based Theory' of child
syntax. Given 'neuro-maturational' delay of MOVE, one can account for
inter alia, mixed word order, lack of inflection, and misreading of
syntactic compounds as found in the data.
This new volume of essays can be seen as a follow-up to the author's
earlier 2024 volume 'Speaking Brains' (04, LSNL). The essays provide
extended insight into the aforementioned volume by expanding on topics
related to neurocircuitry, artificial intelligence, as well as the
very recursive nature of MOVE itself, as it relates to child
development.
Contents: 1. A Brief Note on Dynamic Antisymmetry, ‘Merge-based
Theory’, and its Implications to Early Child English Possessive {‘s}
and the Setting of Word Order. 2. ‘Problems of Projection’: A Note on
Chomsky’s (2013) Lingua paper. 3. Remarks on a Minimalist Approach to
Early Child Syntax. 4. A Note on Artificial Intelligence and the
critical recursive implementation: The lagging problem of ‘background
knowledge’. 5. Why Move? Preliminary Thoughts and Overview: <> How
‘Merge over Move’ informs Early Child Syntax.

Linguistic Field(s): Neurolinguistics




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