통사부 진화와 생물언어학

Abstract

Choe, Sook Hee. 2015. Evolution of Syntax and Biolinguistics. The Journal of Studies in Language 31.3, 733-753. This paper is to investigate the evolution of syntax from the biolinguistic perspectives. Biolinguistics examines the internalized biological result of language faculty, including its mechanism (structure and function), development and evolution. In biolinguistic minimalism the basic concepts such as recursive Merge, precursors to Merge are examined for the evolution of syntax. Concerning the precursors to Merge, Chomsky’s view is supported that we may not suppose there were the precursors to the unbounded Merge for both evolution and development. Then the saltational view that syntax was the result of a single evolutionary development within the Minimalist Program is compared with the incremental view that the evolution of syntax involved multiple stages between the communication system and modern syntax. It is argued that the parallel architecture may be compatible with a saltational theory of syntactic evolution. Hence, it is concluded that the emergence of syntax with the single evolutional development in the saltational view can explain most of syntactic mechanisms focusing on the recursive combinatorial operation Merge. (KAIST)