Language and Recursion

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. What Is Recursion?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Pragmatics as the Origin of Recursion

      • Stephen C. Levinson

      Pages 3-13

   3. Investigating Recursion Within a Domain-Specific Framework

      • Maurício Dias Martins, William Tecumseh Fitch

      Pages 15-26

   4. Recursive Cognition as a Prelude to Language

      • Michael C. Corballis

      Pages 27-36

3. Non-verbal Communication Devices, Implicit Learning, Language and Recursion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 37-37

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   2. Nonverbal Communication Devices, Language, Cerebral Flexibility, and Recursive Exercises

      • Francis Lowenthal, Laurent Lefebvre

      Pages 39-55

   3. Computer Simulations of Recursive Exercises for a Nonverbal Communication Device

      • Philippe Fortemps, Francis Lowenthal, Vincent Wautié

      Pages 57-66

   4. Implicit Learning and Recursion

      • M. Rohrmeier, Z. Dienes, X. Guo, Q. Fu

      Pages 67-85

4. Emergence of Grammar in Human and Non-human Animal Communication

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87

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   2. Early Rule-Learning Ability and Language Acquisition

      • Judit Gervain

      Pages 89-99

   3. Is There a Brain Basis of Recursion?

      • Angela D. Friederici

      Pages 101-113

   4. Primate Communication: Meaning from Strings of Calls

      • Klaus Zuberbühler, Alban Lemasson

      Pages 115-125

5. About Formal Grammars and Artificial Intelligence

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 127-127

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   2. Unification and Efficient Computation in the Minimalist Program

      • Sandiway Fong

      Pages 129-138

   3. Recursion in Generative Grammar

      • Robert Freidin

      Pages 139-147

   4. Computational Language Related to Recursion, Incursion and Fractal

      • Daniel M. Dubois

      Pages 149-165

6. Philosophy, Recursion and Language

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 167-167

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   2. Consciousness, Recursion and Language

      • Roger Vergauwen

      Pages 169-179

   3. There Is No Recursion in Language

      • Pierre Frath

      Pages 181-191

As humans, our many levels of language use distinguish us from the rest of the animal world. For many scholars, it is the recursive aspect of human speech that makes it truly human. But linguists continue to argue about what recursion actually is, leading to the central dilemma: is full recursion, as defined by mathematicians, really necessary for human language? Language and Recursion defines the elusive construct with the goal of furthering research into language and cognition. An up-to-date literature review surveys extensive findings based on non-verbal communication devices and neuroimaging techniques. Comparing human and non-human primate communication, the book’s contributors examine meaning in chimpanzee calls, and consider the possibility of a specific brain structure for recursion. The implications are then extended to formal grammars associated with artificial intelligence, and to the question of whether recursion is a valid concept at all. Among the topics covered: • The pragmatic origins of recursion. • Recursive cognition as a prelude to language. • Computer simulations of recursive exercises for a non-verbal communication device. • Early rule learning ability and language acquisition. • Computational language related to recursion, incursion, and fractals • Why there may be no recursion in language. Regardless of where one stands in the debate, Language and Recursion has much to offer the science community, particularly cognitive psychologists and researchers in the science of language. By presenting these multiple viewpoints, the book makes a solid case for eventual reconciliation.

• artificial intelligence and language
• basal ganglia and language
• differences in human and animal language
• fMRI in linguistics
• non verbal communication devices
• recursion and consciousness

• Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium

  Francis Lowenthal

• Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium

  Laurent Lefebvre

Dr. Francis Lowenthal received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is the current head of the Cognitive Sciences Department at the University of Mons, Belgium. He is the director of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, and is the Chairman of the Council of the Institute of Language Sciences.

Dr. Lefebrve is an Assistant Professor in the Cognitive Sciences Department at the University of Mons, and Chair of the Graduate Studies in the School of Psychology and Education, University of Mons.

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