Papers by Ljiljana Progovac
Negative and Positive Polarity, 1994
Linguistics vanguard, May 24, 2024
Journal of Slavic linguistics, 2022
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibits not only behavioral symptoms of rigidity, but also, as we... more Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibits not only behavioral symptoms of rigidity, but also, as we argue, linguistic symptoms of rigidity, which include rigid application of morpho-syntactic rules (over-regularization), as well as a tendency to interpret metaphorical, non-literal language literally, i.e. rigidly. In addition, it exhibits higher levels of reactive aggression. In this paper we propose a common evolutionary cause for these symptoms of ASD, connecting them to an enhanced striatal function and to a reduced control of the striatum by cortical structures, considering that the striatum is associated not only with reactivity and impulsiveness, but also with rigid, ritual, automated responses. Our framework sees the evolution of human species, and of human language more specifically, as a result of an intense feedback loop between the emergence of (early) language and human self-domestication forces (in essence, a reduction in reactive aggression responses and an increase of p...
Ideophones stand out as promising constructions to be considered as linguistic “fossils”. Alleged... more Ideophones stand out as promising constructions to be considered as linguistic “fossils”. Allegedly, this is due to some of their distinctive features, including their sound-symbolic nature, ample use of reduplication, reliance on the simplest combinatorial processes, attachment to emotional content, and presumed bootstrapping effects on language acquisition. These features might exhibit some continuity with primate communication systems, including the reported co-occurrence with gestures. Given that the nature and complexity of ideophones in modern languages can vary significantly from culture to culture, in this paper, we focus on their links with cross-modality, and ultimately, on how they are processed by the brain and how our brain evolved. We embed our analysis in the framework of the human self-domestication (HSD) hypothesis, according to which human evolution was characterized by a gradual decrease in reactive aggression, this impacting on our cognitive and behavioural featu...
Preface Introduction 1. Negative contexts: Serbian/Croatian 2. Negative contexts: English 3. Non-... more Preface Introduction 1. Negative contexts: Serbian/Croatian 2. Negative contexts: English 3. Non-negative polarity contexts 4. Language variation 5. Rhetorical questions 6. Subjunctive: domain extensions 7. Free-choice items 8. Ladusaw and Linebarger Notes References Index.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2023
Our commentary focuses on the interaction between Grossmann's fearful ape hypothesis (FAH) an... more Our commentary focuses on the interaction between Grossmann's fearful ape hypothesis (FAH) and the human self-domestication hypothesis (HSDH), also taking into account language acquisition and evolution. Although there is considerable overlap between the two hypotheses, there are also some discrepancies, and our goal is to consider the extent to which HSDH can explain the phenomena identified by FAH without invoking fearfulness as directly adaptive.
Traditionally, researchers have proposed a uniformitarian view that all languages are roughly equ... more Traditionally, researchers have proposed a uniformitarian view that all languages are roughly equally complex, via an internal trade-off between the complexity at different levels, such as morphology and syntax. The extent to which the societies where the speakers live influence the trade-off has not been well studied. In this paper, we focus on morphology and syntax, and report significant correlations between specific linguistic and societal features, in particular those relating to exoteric (open) vs. esoteric (close-knit) society types, characterizable in terms of population size, mobility, communication across distances, etc. We conducted an exhaustive quantitative analysis drawing upon WALS, D-Place, Ethnologue and Glottolog. Our results find some support for our hypothesis that languages spoken by exoteric societies tend towards more complex syntaxes, while languages spoken by esoteric societies tend towards more complex morphologies. Our hypothesis, as well as the interpretation of the results, are informed to some extent by the differential involvement of procedural vs. declarative memory types in the processing of syntax and morphology.
In order to identify syntactic constructs more commensurate with the postulates of neuroscience, ... more In order to identify syntactic constructs more commensurate with the postulates of neuroscience, we propose that neurolinguistic research on syntax needs to expand its scope to include less hierarchical syntactic structures, as well as non-propositional and emotional language, both in typical and atypical populations. The reason is that simpler syntax, expressive uses of syntax, and altered syntactic processing in language disorders all point to the way in which syntax evolved. In other words, we argue for decomposing syntactic phenomena (also) in terms of more ancestral vs. more modern components. We further argue for viewing the brain substrate of syntax not only as a constellation of areas performing basic computations and representations, but (also) as a stack of ancient and more recent devices that have become interconnected as our species evolved. Examining the ancient layers as part of the neurolinguistic enterprise should not only help us understand the precise contribution ...
Negative and Positive Polarity, 1994
Negative and Positive Polarity, 1994
Negative and Positive Polarity, 1994
This paper builds on a previous proposal that the gradual emergence of syntax in language evoluti... more This paper builds on a previous proposal that the gradual emergence of syntax in language evolution was engaged in a feedback loop with the effects of Human Self-Domestication (HSD), both processes contributing to enhanced connectivity in the cortico-striatal networks, which is the mechanism for suppressing reactive physical aggression, the hallmark of HSD, but also the mechanism of cross-modality, relevant for metaphoricity and syntax more generally. In this paper, we aim to bridge the gap between these neurobiological changes and the changes facilitated, or even promoted, by the gradual complexification of grammars. We propose that increased cross-modality associated with the brain modifications described above would have enabled and supported, more specifically, a feedback loop between categorization abilities relevant for vocabulary building and the gradual emergence of syntactic structure, including the core combinatorial operation in natural languages, such as Merge. In brief,...
A Critical Introduction to Language Evolution, 2018
Many researchers have advocated an abrupt, saltationist view of language evolution, including, bu... more Many researchers have advocated an abrupt, saltationist view of language evolution, including, but not limited to: Berwick (1998), Bickerton (1990, 1998), Lightfoot (1991), Chomsky (2002, 2005), Berwick and Chomsky (2011, 2016), Piattelli-Palmarini (2010), Piattelli-Palmarini and Uriagereka (2004, 2011), Moro (2008), Hornstein (2009), Miyagawa (2017), Miyagawa et al. (2014), Di Sciullo (2013). In this chapter I consider in some detail two such approaches to language evolution: Berwick and Chomsky’s all or nothing saltationist approach is discussed in Sect. 2.2, and Miyagawa’s approach, which allows some continuity, is discussed in Sect. 2.3. For each approach, I consider how it addresses the Five Problems identified in Chap. 1.
The Second Glot International State-of-the-Article Book
... (35) There is /??are [a man and three children] at the front door. (36) There *is/are [three ... more ... (35) There is /??are [a man and three children] at the front door. (36) There *is/are [three children and a man] at the front door. ... (41) V komnatu voli/vola/*voel/*volo molodaja z¦enc¦ina into room entered-pl./sg.f/sg.m/sg.n young woman-f-nom i malen'kij mal'c¦ik. ...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
We demonstrate how two linguistic phenomena, figurative language (implicating cross-modality) and... more We demonstrate how two linguistic phenomena, figurative language (implicating cross-modality) and derogatory language (implicating aggression), both demand a precise degree of (dis)inhibition in the same cortico-subcortical brain circuits, in particular cortico-striatal networks, whose connectivity has been significantly enhanced in recent evolution. We examine four cognitive disorders/conditions that exhibit abnormal patterns of (dis)inhibition in these networks: schizophrenia (SZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), synaesthesia and Tourette's syndrome (TS), with the goal of understanding why the two phenomena altered reactive aggression and altered cross-modality cluster together in these disorders. Our proposal is that enhanced cross-modality (necessary to support language, in particular metaphoricity) was a result, partly a side-effect, of self-domestication (SD). SD targeted the taming of reactive aggression, but reactive impulses are controlled by the same cortico-subcortica...
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Papers by Ljiljana Progovac