Title: The human language faculty: Ontogenetic and phylogenetic reflections in light of Complex Systems Science

Author: Cedric Boeckx (Institut Català de Recerca i Estudis Avançats - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Affiliation: ICREA (Institut Català de Recerca i Estudis Avançats) - UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Date: 14th October

Place: Guillem Cifre de Colonya building, Seminari de Psicologia

Time: 12 a.m.

Abstract:

In this talk I show that certain commonly made assumptions in linguistics and related disciplines, though very plausible at first and widely accepted, turn out to prove obstacles for a genuine integration of linguistics with the life sciences, and then turn to an alternative set of assumptions, taken from the study of Complex Systems, and show how these assumptions facilitate integration and shed light on the development of the human language capacity both in the individual and in the species.

About the author:

Cedric Boeckx is a reputated linguist interested in the research on the language faculty, the architecture of language and how it works and develops in the human brain. He is one of the most important promotors of a recent field of study, biolinguistics, which aims the integration of the biological perspecive into linguistic inquiry.

See more in:

Boeckx, C. & Grohmann, K. 2007. The Biolinguistics manifesto. Biolinguistics, 1: 001-008.

Di Sciullo. A. M., Piatelli-Palmarini, M., Wexler, K., Berwick, R. C., Boeckx, C., et al. . 2010. The Biological Nature of Human Language. Biolinguistics, 4,1: 004-034.

Co-editor with A. M. Di Sciullo. The Biolinguistic enterprise. (2011).Oxford University Press [Abstract and contents]

BIOLINGUISTICS, a peer-reviewed journal exploring theoretical linguistics that takes the biological foundations of human language

Biolinguistics Blog : with variety of material pertaining to the field of biolinguistics and a Google Calendar with upcoming biolinguistic events.