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Abstract

This chapter attempts to link the specific form taken by the universal grammatical mechanism that projects the finite lexicon of any given language onto the infinite set of strings of words paired with meanings that constitute that language to a more primitive capacity for planning, or constructing sequences of actions that culminate in an intended goal. A central question in defining this system is that of how action representations can be learned from interaction with the physical world. The formation of novel plans from such elementary actions requires two fundamental operations of composition, or sequencing, and type-raising, or mapping objects in a situation into their affordances, or contextually supported actions. It is argued that operations related to composition and type-raising determine the universal grammatical mechanism that projects language-specific lexicons onto the sentences of the language. This observation suggests that the language faculty is in evolutionary and developmental terms attached to a more primitive planning mechanism to which it is formally entirely transparent.

Keywords: composition; type-raising; language faculty; linguistic universals; universal semantics

@incollection{steedman09LUchapter,
  author={Mark Steedman},
  title={Foundations of Universal Grammar in Planned Action},
  year={2009},
  pages={174-200},
  chapter={9},
  editor={M.H. Christiansen and C. Collins and S. Edelman},
  publisher={Oxford University Press},
  booktitle={Language Universals},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/steedman09LUchapter.html},
  keywords={composition; type-raising; language faculty; linguistic universals; universal semantics}
}