Pen-pineapple-apple-pen
•Merge
•Recursion
•It’s still a pen!
Pen-pineapple-apple-pen
•Merge
•Recursion
•Is it the ONLY way to merge?
Pen-pineapple-pen-apple
•Merge
•Recursion
•Maybe OK!
Pen-pineapple-apple-pen
•Merge
•Recursion
•How does it work with words?
Words merge: combine
• Where do words get their power to combine?
Where does a pen …
… get its power…
… to combine with an apple?
Apples and pineapples are soft fruit
Pens are hard, long, and sharp
It sounds stupid, but it’s true
The features of pens, apples, and
pineapples
Hydrogen
The Hydrogen Atom
Hydrogen: has one electron
Hydrogen: needs one more
Chlorine: needs one more electron
Hydrogen Chloride: Merge
Hydrogen Chloride:
Share two electrons
H2: Two Hydrogen Atoms
H2: share two electrons
H2: combining power ONE
H2: combining power ONE
They NEED one thing!
H2: combining power ONE
They can combine because of this one thing!
Hydrogen atom: VALENCY 1
Chlorine: Valency 1
Valency 1: NEEDS ONE THING
H2O: Oxygen needs two electrons
H2O: Hydrogen atoms need one each
H2O: Oxygen shares one with each
Hydrogen atom
H2O: Oxygen Valency 2
H2O: Hydrogen Valency 1
Helium: Valency 0
O2: Two oxygen atoms sharing electrons
O2: Valency of two
Ionic bond:
Sharing or giving away
How does that work?
Sodium has one electron in its outer shell
Sodium gives away its electron
Sodium becomes a bit positive
Chlorine atom becomes more negative
Because electrons are negative
Positive and negative attract
Merge
VALENCY in words
• Walk
• Is a ...
• Verb
• Its VALENCY is ...
• ONE
• It needs one ...
• Noun Phrase (Subject)
VALENCY in words
• Eat
• Is a ...
• Verb
• Its VALENCY is ...
• TWO
• It needs two ...
• Noun Phrases
• (Subject and Object)
VALENCY in words
• Give
• Is a ...
• Verb
• Its VALENCY is ...
• THREE
• It needs three ...
• Noun Phrases
• (Subject and two Objects)
Verb
Verb
蹴った
Verb
蹴った
kicked
Verb Valency <>
蹴った
kicked
Verb Valency <SUBJ>
蹴った
kicked
Verb Valency <SUBJ, OBJECT>
蹴った
kicked
Verb Valency <SUBJ, OBJECT>
蹴った
kicked
VP
Verb Valency <SUBJ, OBJECT>
蹴った
kicked
VP
Verb Valency <SUBJ, OBJECT>
蹴った
kicked
N
P
VP
Verb Valency <SUBJ, OBJECT>
蹴った
kicked
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb Valency <SUBJ>
蹴った
kicked
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
Valency
<SUBJ>
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
Valency
<SUBJ>
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
S
Valency
<SUBJ>
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
S
Valency
<SUBJ>
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
S
Valency
<SUBJ>
NP
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
S
Valency <>NP
ケンが
Ken-
nom
N
P
ボールを
the ball-acc
VP
Verb
蹴った
kicked
S Valency <>
NP
ケンが
Ken-
nom
walk
walk
VERB
walk
VERB Valency < >
walk
VERB Valency <1 >
walk
VERB Valency <Noun Phrase >
walk
VERB Valency <Noun Phrase:
[SUBJECT] >
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < [SUBJECT] >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
walk
VERB Valency < >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
Sentence: VP
walk
VERB Valency < >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
Sentence: VP with empty …
walk
VERB Valency < >
you
NOUN
PHRASE
Sentence: VP with empty Valency list
Pikotaro is a genius!
He invented syntax!
And metaphor
And genetics
And molecules
And everthing in the universe!
Actually … no
This is a very OLD idea
First evidence: about 2500 years ago
A guy in Pakistan called Panini
Grammatical rules of Sanskrit
Panini’s rules
Infinitely creative
Panini -- this
Not this
Rib eye steak panini
Infinitely creative rules Panini
Anyway, forget about Panini
It was a long time ago
Apple and brie panini with pumpkin!
I said forget about panini!
Infinitely creative rules for Sanskrit
Over 2500 years old
Not a new idea!
Fast forward
First half of the seventeenth century
The Enlightenment
The power of thought
Human reason
Infinitely creative
Infinitely powerful
Reason depends on LANGUAGE
Reason and language work together
We need LANGUAGE to think!
We know we exist because of LANGUAGE!
Different from animals
Language makes us better than animals
Humboldt developed the idea
1836
Bloomfield 1914
Zellig Harris (1951)
Chomsky’s teacher!
So why is Chomsky so important?
HOW can language be infinitely creative?
Not just grammatical rules
Maybe there’s something really
different and special about our
language ability
Maybe language has SPECIAL rules
Maybe we have a SPECIAL language
module in our brain
Our brains are HARD-WIRED for
language?
The language part of the brain =Language
faculty (LF or FL)
Universal Grammar!?
Universal Grammar = the rules in the LF
Hard-wired in a special part of our brain
We are born with these rules
In a special part of our brain
So studying language tells us something
about the brain!
We can analyse grammar …
… and understand how our BRAINS work!
Wow!! Grammar is BIOLOGY!
We can look at the DEEP DEEP structure
Back in the 60s it seemed so exciting
It was going to change the world!
So what about now?
Have we proved Universal Grammar is
real?
I said forget about panini!
Do we know language ability is innate?
Is the language faculty real?
What‘s SPECIAL about language ability?
Merge?
Recursion?
Only LANGUAGE has MERGE?
Only LANGUAGE can combine things
… and do it again and again?
Only language has merge?
• 1
• +
• 1
Only language has recursion?
• 1
• +
• 1
• =
• 2
Only language has recursion?
• 2
• +
• 1
• =
• 3
Only language has recursion?
• 2
• +
• 3
• =
• 5
Only language has recursion?
• 3
• +
• 5
• =
• 8
Only language has recursion?
• 8
• +
• 5
• =
• 13
Only language has recursion?
• 13
• +
• 8
• =
• 21
The Fibonacci sequence
The classic example of recursion!
In mathematics!
Language?
No mathematics
And nature?
A force in nature?
Merge and recursion: A force in nature?
Art and beauty?
Maybe
Only language has merge and recursion
• Merge and recursion
• Special
• Unique
• Special, unique features
• Special, unique features of language?
Some people don’t agree
Language ability is like ordinary thinking
Merge in ordinary thinking
Maybe animals, too?!
Different ways of doing grammar
Lots of information in words
The information all merges
Different ideas about language
Nobody has all the answers
But we can think about it
You can make up your own minds
As we look at the history
And think about the problems
We don’t know
It’s better to admit it
Than PRETENDING we do
So let’s not pretend

Merge rec2