An Integrated Generative Biolinguistic Approach to the Design, Development and Evolution of the Human Language Faculty

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This research project has conducted biolinguistic studies of human language on the basis of the latest development of generative grammar and provided new insights into the Design, Development and Evolution of language.(I) Design: Formal properties of the fundamental syntactic computational operations Merge and Search, together with their neural substrates, have been identified. (II) Development: Correlations between parameter setting in first/second language acquisition and brain functions have been discovered. Selective functions of BA44/45 in Broca's area with respect to Merge have been elucidated. (III) Evolution: On the basis of philosophical considerations of biology and archaeological evidence, a theory of the motor control origin of syntax and a theory of earlier emergence of human language have been proposed. The cultural evolutionary nature of certain syntactic phenomena including Case and agreement has been clarified in relation to their effects on externalization.