The Parallel Architecture and its Place in Cognitive Science
Ray S. Jackendoff · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2012
Abstract It has become fashionable to speak of linguistic inquiry as biolinguistics, an attempt to frame questions of linguistic theory in terms of the place of language in a biological context. The Minimalist Program is the most prominent stream of research in this paradigm. However, an alternative stream from within the paradigm, the Parallel Architecture, has been developing in the author's work over the past 30 years; it includes two important subcomponents, Conceptual Structure and Simpler Syntax. This chapter shows how the Parallel Architecture is a more promising realization of biolinguistic goals than the Minimalist Program, and is more conducive to integration with both the rest of linguistic theory and the rest of cognitive science.