What is Human Nature?

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What is Human Nature? A question for every
academic discipline Linguistic answer a mental
object How do Mind and Brain differ? They are
the same the brain can only be explained by the
mind. Purpose the brain is designed to carry
out the intentions of the mind. Intentions
defined in mental and mathematical terms
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What Mathematical Principles Recursion an
Operation that contains itself Recursion gt
different in Vision and Language Russian
Dolls Analogy stereoscopy in vision and
hearing gt Separately represented
in neurology
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Visual Recursion
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Visual Recursion Violation

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Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch (2002) Recursion is
what distinguishes human language from the
communication systems of nonhuman animals. "FLN
narrow faculty of language only includes
recursion and is the only uniquely
human component of the faculty of language,
it appears to lack any analog in animal
communication allowing us to communicate an
endless variety of thoughts.."
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Recursion at different levels in grammar word
level prefixation re-re-read,
anti-anti-missile missile adjective big,
black, strange, bear compound student film
group festival phrase level possessiveJohn's
friend's car's motor preposition in the kitchen
in the cabinet in the corner conjunction and
I went and I saw and I conquered
Excluded I bought a new car, car , car I see
it it it
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Verbal Recursion
1. John is in the house in the kitchen 2. John
is in in the house the kitchen
PrepPhrase gt Preposition Nounphrase
in the house
Nounphrase gt Noun PrepPhrase house in
the kitchen Recursion in NP Nounphrase gt Noun
Prepphrase kitchen (in the corner)
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Prepphr gt P NP in
the kitchen
2 John is in in the house the kitchen
PrepPhr gt P (Prepphr) NP
in (Prepphr) the kitchen
Shorthand (2) PP gt P (PP) NP Or (1) NP gt
Det N (PP) PP gt P NP
Which rule is right? 1 or 2, Both recursive
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Rule 1 produces grammatical sentence And Rule 2
produces ungrammatical sentence Is there a
principled difference? Rule 1 Indirect
recursion NP gt Noun and PP PP gt P and
NP Rule 2 Direct recursion PP gt P PP
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Conclusions 1. Not all recursion is
acceptable everywhere 2. Mental principles,
biologically controlled, are defined by limits
or constraints
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A.. Recursive Possessive DP gt D NP (Gentile
(2000)) D gt Poss (DP) 1. Show me
Cookie Monsters sisters picture picture1
CM picture2 CM sister picture3
sister 11 3-5 yrs old 65 of 3yrs
correct 88 of 5yrs correct
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NP gt Det N (PP) Det gt NP s NP
/ \ Det N / \
NP s hat N
John
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Can you see where the recursion is predicted by
The rules NP gt Determiner N
(PP) Determiner gt NP s
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NP / \
Det N / \ NP s
hat / \ Det N / \
NP s mother N John
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NP
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Language Variation German Marias Haus
(marias house) Marias Freunds
Haus (Marias friends house) English Monty
Python Who is to blame? their fathers And
their fathers fathers fathers And their
fathers fathers FATHERS fathers
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Challenge to the child who does not know if he
is Learning English or German Recognize where
recursion occurs!
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FATHER Donna's dog's name is Tramp
. MOTHER that's like um what's Auntie
Marian''s doggie's name? what's
Auntie Marian's puppy's dog name?
what's Auntie Marian's puppy's
name? SARAH (unclear) MOTHER huh? what's your
what's.what's your cousin Arthur's Mummy's
name? SARAH I don't.. your cousin
?. MOTHER yeah, Arthur Arthur what's his
Mumma's name? SARAH I want pin.
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MOTHER Sarah, what's my Mummy's
name? SARAH Nana. MOTHER and what's my
Daddy's name? SARAH Grampy. MOTHER and
what's Daddy's Mumma's name? SARAH huh?
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(No Transcript)
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MOTHER oh. what's your cousin's Mumma's
name? what's Arthur's Mumma's name? SARAH uh.
oh. Mother thinking? Sarah nods
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MOTHER what's Pebbles-' momma's
name? SARAH Wilma. MOTHER Wilma yeah. and
what's BamBam's daddy's name? SARAH uh,
BamBam! MOTHER no, what's BamBam's daddy's
name? SARAH Fred! MOTHER no,
Barney. SARAH Barney. MOTHER what's his
mumma's name? she's right here. points to
figure on Sarah's pajamas which have TV
characters on them MOTHER what was the
caterpillar's name, Sarah? SARAH like mine's
like mine. SARAH it's called I don't remember.
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FATHER now what's Mommy's Mom's name? MAR um
Mary. FATHER no. Mommy's Mother's
name? MAR hm. I don't know. FATHER what was
Mommy's Dad's name? ROS Grandpa
Kay. FATHER no. Grandpa , what was Mommy's
Dad's name? MAR I don't know FATHER you know
what Mommy's Dad's name was? Mark. Mark. MAR Mo
mmy's ... FATHER Mommy's Dad's name was Mark.
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(No Transcript)
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Now say the Dukes of Hazard. Say the Dukes of
of Hazard's boy's. CHILD Car. The boys Dukes of
no the boys Dukes of Hazard car. FATHER No. CHI
LD The boys Dukes of Hazard car. No. FATHER No.
CHILD The boys Dukes of Hazard
car. FATHER No. CHILD The boys Dukes of Hazard
car. FATHER No. CHILD The car Dukes of Hazard
boys. FATHER The Dukes of Hazard's boy's
car. CHILD Dukes of Hazard's boy's
car. FATHER Good.
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MOTHER we're goin(g) up to Donny's Mother's or
this case MOTHER Can you get it out of the
bowl? Member, the beater's yours, the bowl's
Sky's.
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ADULT here's mama's bear's chair . CHILD He's
Barney. FATHER Who's he? CHILD He's Fred's
Flintstone's Fred's friend. Getting it
finally CHILD What's Toto's girl's name
What's the name of the girl who owns Toto?
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Determiner gt NP s NP gt Det N (PP) Suppose
we include that PP
The mans desk The man near yous
desk Contrast The man near your desk
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NP / \ Det N / \ \
NP s desk / \ The N /
\ man PP / \ near you
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What do you think will happen here? Show me the
boy in the tree's hat boy
hat hat
boy tree tree An
experiment you could try!
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Proposal Phrasal Possessives Trigger
Recursion Consequences Phrasal Possessives
are Rare Grammar is acquired from
crucial Examples not frequency
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Conclusions recursion is an innate
mental Propery 2. It is represented differently
in various Parts of mind 3. The child must learn
where it applies In grammar in general and in his
own Language 4. The trigger for recursion may
be Rare and unusual