The Neural Signature of Syntactic Processing

Concha Castillo

doi:10.5209/cjes.55212

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding about the processing of syntax in the brain and/or mind of speakers. The focus is specifically on the neural signature of the processing of tense features and of agreement features on the one hand, and on the neural signature of the stage that argua-bly antecedes the processing of tense features and of agreement features on the other. Neuroimaging studies of the last two decades or so have come to establish that parts of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) are responsible for syntactic computing proper, and that the left posterior middle/superior tem-poral gyrus (MTG/STG) appear to be in charge of the projection of phrase structure. Based upon such findings, I defend the convenience of establishing specific goals or tasks that can contribute to their refinement, and that can lead to the acknowledgment of the topography and timing of neural activity at the very first stages of the processing of a sentence.

Highlights

This paper focuses on two of the above-mentioned domains, namely the licensing of tense features and agreement features on the one hand, and the phrase building mechanism that applies before the cited licensing of tense features and agreement features on the other, and proposes a line of investigation that can contribute to identifying the computation of such elements and mechanisms, which must presumably apply at the initial stages of the overall computation process of a sentence
The analysis of the processing of tense features and agreement features on verbs in the brain/mind of speakers takes the following form in the present proposal: (2) Identification of the neural signature of tense features and agreement features in the process of computation of a sentence: (a) Verification that the neural correlate of tense features and agreement features as part of the building up of a sentence is distinct from the neural correlate of tense and agreement features as component elements of a morphological paradigm
Summary of the Discussion Invoking general postulates of minimalist syntactic theory, and based upon neuroimaging research of the last two decades on the division of labour between frontal areas within left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and temporo-parietal areas (MTG/STG), the present paper proposes a line of investigation to be carried out in future fMRI and/or MEG experiments with an aim to fulfil specific goals relative to what are presumably the very initial stages of the processing of a sentence

Summary

Introduction

Syntax is the core component of natural language according to generative theory, and getting to know how syntactic computation possibly operates in the brain and/or mind of speakers has been in the very last decades, and will purportedly continue to be, a highly sought-for goal within such fields as neurolinguistics, neu-. Aside from those works that focus on the contrast between e.g. regular forms vs irregular forms, the ones that matter most for the present proposal are those that appear to have shown that the neural signature of morphological agreement on a verb is distinct from that on e.g. a nominal since, according to generativist linguistic theory, and as will be described, an important part of the construction of a sentence consists in that verbs process one of these features, namely agreement features, basing on the agreement features that nominals own themselves in an inherent way, whereas nominals, as just said, are the natural bearers of such features, which are present on the nominal itself from the beginning of sentence construction: more technically, nominals have valued and interpretable agreement features.

Feature Evaluation in Linguistic Theory

The Present Proposal

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