Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated
This paper explores the prospect that grammatical expressions are propositionally whole and psychologically plausible, leading to the explanatory burden being placed on syntax rather than pragmatic processes, with the latter crucially bearing the feature of optionality. When supposedly unarticulated...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2016-03-01
|
| Series: | Biolinguistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.9047 |
| _version_ | 1797338077503422464 |
|---|---|
| author | Elliot Murphy |
| author_facet | Elliot Murphy |
| author_sort | Elliot Murphy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper explores the prospect that grammatical expressions are propositionally whole and psychologically plausible, leading to the explanatory burden being placed on syntax rather than pragmatic processes, with the latter crucially bearing the feature of optionality. When supposedly unarticulated constituents are added, expressions which are propositionally distinct, and not simply more specific, arise. The ad hoc nature of a number of pragmatic processes carry with them the additional problem of effectively acting as barriers to implementing language in the brain. The advantages of an anti-lexicalist biolinguistic methodology are discussed, and a bi-phasal model of linguistic interpretation is proposed, Phasal Eliminativism, carved by syntactic phases and (optionally) enriched by a restricted number of pragmatic processes. In addition, it is shown that the syntactic operation of labeling (departing from standard Merge-centric evolutionary hypotheses) is responsible for a range of semantic and pragmatic phenomena, rendering core aspects of syntax and lexical pragmatics commensurable. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:25:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3a931605c89b49fea276f25890f4bc2b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1450-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:25:49Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biolinguistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-3a931605c89b49fea276f25890f4bc2b2024-01-31T09:42:20ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyBiolinguistics1450-34172016-03-011002105010.5964/bioling.90479047Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the UnarticulatedElliot Murphy0University College London, Division of Psychology and Language SciencesThis paper explores the prospect that grammatical expressions are propositionally whole and psychologically plausible, leading to the explanatory burden being placed on syntax rather than pragmatic processes, with the latter crucially bearing the feature of optionality. When supposedly unarticulated constituents are added, expressions which are propositionally distinct, and not simply more specific, arise. The ad hoc nature of a number of pragmatic processes carry with them the additional problem of effectively acting as barriers to implementing language in the brain. The advantages of an anti-lexicalist biolinguistic methodology are discussed, and a bi-phasal model of linguistic interpretation is proposed, Phasal Eliminativism, carved by syntactic phases and (optionally) enriched by a restricted number of pragmatic processes. In addition, it is shown that the syntactic operation of labeling (departing from standard Merge-centric evolutionary hypotheses) is responsible for a range of semantic and pragmatic phenomena, rendering core aspects of syntax and lexical pragmatics commensurable.https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.9047conceptscontextualismlabeling effectsphasal eliminativism |
| spellingShingle | Elliot Murphy Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated Biolinguistics concepts contextualism labeling effects phasal eliminativism |
| title | Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated |
| title_full | Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated |
| title_fullStr | Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated |
| title_full_unstemmed | Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated |
| title_short | Phasal Eliminativism, Anti-Lexicalism, and the Status of the Unarticulated |
| title_sort | phasal eliminativism anti lexicalism and the status of the unarticulated |
| topic | concepts contextualism labeling effects phasal eliminativism |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.9047 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elliotmurphy phasaleliminativismantilexicalismandthestatusoftheunarticulated |