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Uniformity and diversity: A minimalist perspective

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Author

Summary, in English

This essay discusses language uniformity and diversity in the light of recent development of the minimalist program (Hauser et al. 2002, Chomsky 2008, Berwick and Chomsky 2011, and much related work). It pursues two leading ideas. First, Universal Grammar (UG) is maximally minimal: hence early internal language (I-language) is largely uniform across individuals, language variation being mainly or entirely confined to externalization. Second, the mapping from I-language to external language (E-language) is non-isomorphic (the Non-isomorphy Generalization), morphological processes such as agreement and case marking being E-language phenomena, taking place in the externalization component. The first line of reasoning converges with many of Chomsky’s recent ideas, the second one is more divergent.

Department/s

Publishing year

2011

Language

English

Pages

189-222

Publication/Series

Linguistic Variation Yearbook

Volume

11

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Topic

  • Languages and Literature

Keywords

  • E-language
  • Externalization
  • I-language
  • Person
  • Tense
  • Non-isomorphy Generalization

Status

Published

Research group

  • GRIMM

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2211-6834