14 - Computational primitives in syntax and possible brain correlates

Summary

This chapter focuses on linguistic operations, and discusses the possible candidates for primitives of syntactic computation and the state of the art with regard to their possible neurobiological correlates. From the perspective of functional neuroanatomy, empirical investigations into the processing of long-distance dependencies have, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused largely on the role of Broca's region. The chapter discusses the issue of sequencing (i.e. word order) more generally. The positive correlation between dependency distance and left inferior frontal gyrus (lIFG) activation is one of the best investigated phenomena in the cognitive neuroscience of language. Many of the existing neuroimaging findings on syntactic processing appear to be more parsimoniously explained in terms of more general cognitive mechanisms (specifically: cognitive control). The chapter discusses "Merge" as the most promising current candidate for a neurobiologically implemented primitive of syntactic computation, and describes approaches that can bridge the gap between grammar and processing.