Elements of Generative Syntax by Koji Arikawa

Elements of Generative Syntax by Koji Arikawa

This book demonstrates why “error minimization at the edge of chaos” is important and discusses its implementation in EMA (error-minimization algorithm), which is a descriptive apparatus that is applied to 27 languages. It claims that C_HL emerges at the edge of chaos (the boundary of disorder and order), borrowing the terminology from Stuart Kauffman, a complex systems researcher. Morphosyntactic features signify disorder for C_HL, CI, and SM because they are uninterpretable (chaotic; viral) for meaning-computation (CI) and sound-computation (SM). However, C_HL is resilient in eliminating morphosyntactic features to restore order (create structures). This book proposes that C_HL evolved as an error-minimizing system. Incidentally, error minimization is at the heart of mathematics, an artificial language. The target audience includes professional linguists, postgraduate students, and general readers who intend to understand the scientific significance of generative syntax.

Koji Arikawa is a professor at the Faculty of International Studies and Liberal Arts at St. Andrew’s (Momoyama Gakuin) University, Japan. He specializes in generative syntax with an emphasis on its integration with physics and mathematics. He is the author of numerous publications, including A Reference Guide of Diagnostics for the Generative Syntax (with a testimonial by Noam Chomsky) and “Is word order asymmetry mathematically expressible?” (Biolinguistics, 2013).