General Linguistics. The notion of symmetry in syntax: formal, biological and mathematical issues (PhD)

(I) AN ANCILLARY HISTORY OF LINGUISTICS. Compared to other empirical sciences, linguistics is probably the most fragile one. In this field, a significant tension is manifest: on the one hand, some fundamental, intuitively evident notions, canonized in classical Western civilization, remain stable; on the other hand, research programs aim at formalizing and decomposing classical taxonomies to produce new explanatory models, a clear legacy of structuralism. The instability of formalism and, albeit to a lesser extent, the oscillation concerning the empirical problems to be treated have often been the source of criticism. Nevertheless, it is equally clear that for the first time in the history of linguistics it is possible to assume that syntactic dependencies (i) are phenomena based on mathematical regularities that exceed the descriptive and explanatory power of Markov chains; (ii) they cannot be essentially reduced to other cognitive domains; (ii) they are the expression of neurobiological restrictions that precede any experience, rather than cultural or conventional artefacts. Consequently, the fundamental objective of linguistics has shifted from the taxonomic and descriptive to the characterization of the class of impossible languages. Tracing the boundaries of Babel, namely the “stem mind” of children, also allows us to better understand the role of history, chance and culture, i.e. of experience, in the construction of human languages. For this reason, for each new monographic theme explored, a historical context is provided, highligting the path that led to the current situation with respect to that theme to identify the state of the art of the discipline and, more importantly, new questions to be addressed. (II) SYMMETRY IN SYNTAX OR STEPS TOWARD A CARTESIAN DREAM Humans are designed to detect symmetry. This powerful notion is essential in many empirical and cognitivedomains. It can be recognized and formally defined in different ways insofar some notion of invariance is maintained: the physical world, mathematical structures, art, and biological organisms display symmetries, and pervasively so. The aim of this course is to show that symmetry, contrary to the canonical models proposed ever since Chomsky 1986 and Kayne 1994, can in fact be detected in syntax, provided that a coherent metrics is designed linking the sequences of words to the hierarchical (recursive) structures underlying them and viceversa. The idea to be developed in the course is that symmetry generates (either computational or phonological) ambiguity and as such it must be neutralized. Ultimately, symmetry induces repair effects as if grammar provided a “syntactic epenthesis”. Symmetry naturally leads to the formulation of a powerful conjecture, namely that symmetry is the way grammar encodes predication. This hypothesis solves the debate concerning clause structure which characterizes linguistics ever since the classical Aristotelian model up to the structuralist debate: all clauses have a symmetrical, hence exocentric, nucleus although they expand according to an endocentric schema. Considering symmetry to be part of syntax forces a reshaping of the overall architecture of grammar, in particular it redesigns the boundaries between syntax and morphology and makes syntactic movement as a necessary consequence of the hierarchical structure characterizing all human languages. A novel perspective which cannot but to have an impact on the hypotheses bearing on the evolution of human language. NOTA BENE: classes will be concentrated in November and December. The course will be completed with an intensive two day seminar focusing ona topic discussed during the course.