Modularity in Language
Prof. Dr. Lars Konieczny
Dr. Verena Haser
Ort: Peterhof, R2 (geändert!)
Zeit: Do 10-12
Abstract
This seminar will be taught jointly with Dr. Verena Haser, English Linguistics, University of Freiburg. The question whether the human mind is organized in terms of a great number of separate modules is one of the most hotly debated topics in many disciplines, including psycholinguistics, theoretical linguistics, evolutionary psychology and philosophy.
According to the classic account of modularity, mind and language consist of specialised parts (modules) that are innate and domain specific (i.e., dedicated to specific tasks such as comprehending syntax, comprehending semantics, comprehending contextual information, processing basic visual features, processing sounds, etc). Furthermore, any given module has access to certain specific types of information only; for instance, the module responsible for semantic processing can access information about the conventional meaning(s) of words, but will not be able to access contextual information necessary for determining the reference of an ambiguous expression in a larger context (such as "bank" in "I want to go to the bank", where bank can refer to either a 'financial institution' or to the 'terrain alongside the bed of a river').
The first part of this course addresses issues relating to the modularity debate from various perspectives, placing particular emphasis on psycholinguistic and philosophical accounts. In the second part we will discuss and develop psycholinguistic experiments designed to test specific assumptions that follow from a modular conception of cognition and language.