| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
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| Research Abstract |
1.The phenomenon of the origin of language is regarded as the transition/leap from the state of "non-language" to that of "language" at a certain stage of the evolution of humans. Thus there was a change in "quality." Hence the theory of natural selection/adaptation, which maintains the continuity, should be rejected as the evolutionary theory of the origin of language. The theory of spandrels, which simply asserts that language appeared as a by-product of some traits, is a kind of last resort. It will hinder research from proceeding further. Consequently, at this stage of inquiry, the theory of preadaptaion is most plausible.
2.Considering a true quality change in language origin, it is doubtful whether the so-called constructive/self-organization approach can contribute to the solution of this problem, because the initial conditions on the agents cannot include "linguistic" things.
3.From a methodological point of view, both neo-Darwinism and the so-called punctuated equilibrium are no
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t falsifiable, since they include some existential statements. Furthermore, the study of the origin of human language is inherently unfalsifiable, since it is the investigation of an event which only once took place at a specific stage in history. By contrast, generative theory has developed, adopting (sophisticated) methodological falsificationism. It is suggested that generative linguists should put aside falsificationism for the time being and adopt something like the methodology of Lakatos's research program.
4.Some basic assumptions/viewpoints which should be adopted/recognized in the study of the origin and evolution of language from a generative perspective are :
(1)Investigating the core components of UG
(2)The ultimate goal is the origin and evolution of "current" human language.
(3)Adopting the null hypothesis in research into the origin of language
(4)Studying the origin and evolution of individual properties/principles of UG. That is, we do not consider language as a whole/package.
(5)Disallowing the notion of "arbitrariness"
5.Within a simple/elegant minimalist theory, we should investigate not only the origin and evolution of Merge but also that of probe-goal relations, predication, and modification. Less
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