Natural language syntax yields an unbounded array of hierarchically structured expressions. We claim that these are used in the service of active inference in accord with the free-energy principle (FEP). While conceptual advances alongside modelling and simulation work have attempted to connect speech segmentation and linguistic communication with the FEP, we extend this program to the underlying computations responsible for generating syntactic objects. We argue that recently proposed principles of economy in language design-such as "minimal search" criteria from theoretical syntax-adhere to the FEP. This affords a greater degree of explanatory power to the FEP-with respect to higher language functions-and offers linguistics a grounding in first principles with respect to computability. While we mostly focus on building new principled conceptual relations between syntax and the FEP, we also show through a sample of preliminary examples how both tree-geometric depth and a Kolmogorov complexity estimate (recruiting a Lempel-Ziv compression algorithm) can be used to accurately predict legal operations on syntactic workspaces, directly in line with formulations of variational free energy minimization. This is used to motivate a general principle of language design that we term Turing-Chomsky Compression (TCC). We use TCC to align concerns of linguists with the normative account of self-organization furnished by the FEP, by marshalling evidence from theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics to ground core principles of efficient syntactic computation within active inference.

It is pointed out that “specifiers” render the algorithm of projection overly complex. This consideration lends support to Starke’s (2004) reanalysis of specifiers as phrasal heads that project their own phrases — which makes phrase structure a simple sequence of head-complement relations. It is further pointed out that if head-complement relations are represented using dominance in place of sisterhood, to reflect the essentially asymmetrical nature of Merge (Chomsky 2000), a non-branching (partially linear) phrase structure tree is obtained that very naturally eliminates labels and projections. A simple Spell-Out rule then provides a linear ordering of the terminal elements. The linear tree preserves all the major results of antisymmetry.

By resorting to recent results, we show that an isomorphism exist between linguistic features of the Minimalist Program and the quantum field theory formalism of condensed matter physics. Specific linguistic features which admit a representation in terms of the many-body algebraic formalism are the unconstrained nature of recursive Merge, the operation of the Labeling Algorithm, the difference between pronounced and un-pronounced copies of elements in a sentence and the build-up of the Fibonacci sequence in the syntactic derivation of sentence structures. The collective dynamical nature of the formation process of Logical Forms leading to the individuation of the manifold of concepts and the computational self-consistency of languages are also discussed.

... derivation corresponding to ( la ) : ( 2 ) { [ to be someone in the room ] ... Formal Features In his early work on the Minimalist Program , Chomsky assumed that none of the features which enter into syntactic ... utilized by the ... Chiefly selected papers from a conference held in Feb. 1995 in Berlin.

Formal and Explicit Models of Grammar Robert Borsley, Kersti Börjars. Fodor's Structural Triggers Learner ( STL ... the Minimalist Program it might be a weak AGRO feature that does not attract the object forward for checking . For ... This authoritative introduction explores the four main non-transformational syntactic frameworks: Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical-Functional Grammar, Categorial Grammar, and Simpler Syntax. It also considers a range of issues that arise in connection with these approaches, including questions about processing and acquisition. An authoritative introduction to the main alternatives to transformational grammar Includes introductions to three long-established non-transformational syntactic frameworks: Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical-Functional Grammar, and Categorial Grammar, along with the recently developed Simpler Syntax Brings together linguists who have developed and shaped these theories to illustrate the central properties of these frameworks and how they han

This study explores the syntactic deviations in written English by freshmen EFL students at Saudi universities focusing on their implications for understanding syntactic competence. The research investigates 105 students' compositions to pinpoint the most frequent and notable syntactic errors, employing the Minimalist Program (MP) by Noam Chomsky. The objective is to root these deviations within a solid theoretical background, thereby scientifically elucidating their causes and enhancing strategies for explaining syntax using the latest Chomskyan MP approach. The findings reveal that the most common syntactic deviations include verb complement errors (22.43%), tense and agreement discrepancies, (21.14%) and omissions of critical syntactic elements like prepositions (9.28%) and determiners (3.42%). These errors are systematically categorized and analyzed using MP mechanisms, which facilitates a deeper understanding of the theoretical bases upon which syntactic structures are formed and analyzed. This methodological approach helps in understanding the origins of observed errors, providing a well-grounded justification for deeming certain expressions incorrect in daily language practices. Ultimately, this analysis not only illuminates the common challenges faced by these learners but also suggests more effective teaching strategies. By leveraging a profound and clear understanding of MP, the study provides insights into the practical and deep reasons behind linguistic errors, enhancing both theoretical knowledge and instructional practices in the field of EFL.

In linguistics, the minimalist program is a major line of inquiry that has been developing inside generative grammar since the early 1990s, starting with a 1993 paper by Noam Chomsky. Following Imre Lakatos's distinction, Chomsky presents minimalism as a program, understood as a mode of inquiry that provides a conceptual framework which guides the development of linguistic theory. As such, it is c The optimal situation would be that UG reduces… In… In one formulation common in early versions of Minimalist theory, a distinction is made between so-called strong and weak features. Strong features (sometimes notated with the * diacritic) are not legitimate objects at the PF interface and so must be checked before Spell Out. Weak features, however, are not visible at PF and need not be checked before Spell Out. In this original formulation, feature checking occurs locally. A feature [f*] on a head X must be checked by merging another element bearing feature [F] as a specifier of X. This mechanism can be used to explain subject movement. If one assumes that nominals are introduced from the lexicon bearing Case features, then those features must be checked against heads bearing matching Case features. If T bears a strong [nom*] feature, then a D bearing a [nom] case feature must move to the specifier of T to check this feature. A similar approach can be taken for wh-movement. In this case, one assumes there is a strong [wh*] feature on C. Another element bearing a [wh] feature must move to C in order to check the strong feature on C before Spell Out. Under this view weak features must still be checked before arriving at the LF interface. It is assumed that the LF branch of the derivation still has access to syntactic operations and that, therefore, movement can occur after Spell Out (leading to so-called covert movement that is not phonologically visible). Movement that is not necessary to satisfy PF interface conditions does not occur before Spell Out due to an economy condition called Procrastinate, which requires operations to wait as long as possible before they occur. Later approaches to syntactic features introduce the notion of feature interpretability and integrate feature valuation with the operation Agree, discussed below. The introduction of Agree obviates the need to check features via movement. Instead, a generalized EPP feature or diacritic requires movement of elements into the specifiers of various heads. Nonetheless, the core idea that movement must occur to satisfy interface conditions remains at the core of movement under Minimalist theorizing.

Unlike wh-question questions in Standard Arabic (SA), which received much attention in the past decades in different approaches within generative grammar, question particles (yes-no questions) in SA have not yet been studied thoroughly in minimalist syntax, and less attention has been paid to them. There is a need to analyze SA question articles and explore their syntactic behavior within minimalism. The reason why this topic has been selected for study is that SA question particles have not been investigated in detail yet in Chomsky’s Phase Theory; it has not been analyzed how question partic

This study examines the syntactic placement and cognitive processing of time nouns and time adverbs in Mandarin Chinese, a language without overt tense morphology, highlighting how these temporal expressions interface with Chinese grammar. Study 1 analyzed a large-scale natural language corpus (BLCU Chinese Corpus) to determine the typical positions of time nouns and time adverbs relative to the subject. The results revealed distinct distributional patterns: time nouns occurred flexibly either before or after the subject, while time adverbs appeared predominantly in post-subject (sentence-inte

Formalism and functionalism in linguistics are often taken to be diametrically opposed approaches. However, close examination of the relevant phenomena reveals that the two are complementary, rather than being irrevocably in opposition to each other. One can be a formal linguist and a functional linguist at the same time, without there being any contradiction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

learn the proper use of a word and suddenly use the word incorrectly. Chomsky believed that Skinner failed to account for the central role of syntactic knowledge Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition involves structures, rules, and representation. The capacity to successfully use language requires human beings The capacity to acquire and use language is a key aspect that distinguishes humans from other beings. Although it is difficult to pin down what aspects of language are uniquely human, there are a few design features that can be found in all known forms of human language, but that are missing from forms of animal communication. For example, many animals are able to communicate with each other by signaling to the things around them, but this kind of communication lacks the arbitrariness of human vernaculars (in that there is nothing about the sound of the word "dog" that would hint at its meaning). Other forms of animal communication may utilize arbitrary sounds, but are unable to combine those sounds in different ways to create completely novel messages that can then be automatically understood by another. Hockett called this design feature of human language "productivity". It is crucial to the understanding of human language acquisition that humans are not limited to a finite set of words, but, rather, must be able to understand and utilize a complex system that allows for an infinite number of possible messages. So, while many forms of animal communication exist, they differ from human language in that they have a limited range of vocabulary tokens, and the vocabulary items are not combined syntactically to create phrases. In bare-phrase structure (minimalist program), theory-internal considerations define the specifier position of an internal-merge projection (phases vP and CP) as the only type of host which could serve as potential landing-sites for move-based elements displaced from lower down within the base-generated VP structure—e.g. A-movement such as passives (["The apple was eaten by [John (ate the apple)"]]), or raising ["Some work does seem to remain [(There) does seem to remain (some work)"]]). As a consequence, any strong version of a structure building model of child language which calls for an exclusive "external-merge/argument structure stage" prior to an "internal-merge/scope-discourse related stage" would claim that young children's stage-1 utterances lack the ability to generate and host elements derived via movement operations. In terms of a…