Mismatch

Mismatch theory in evolutionary anthropology is based on the idea that adaptive traits are frequently mismatched to the current environment, requiring humans to use suboptimal traits as effectively as possible in order to deal with contemporary stimuli. Linguistic mismatch phenomena involve semiotic functions that attach to forms in apparent defiance of grammatical design features. For example, while a noun phrase typically corresponds to an argument, it may also be used as a predicate. How should we incorporate predicate nominals into our theory of what nouns and noun phrases mean?

Mismatch phenomena challenge prevalent conceptions of syntax and are thereby of vital importance to the development of grammatical architectures. This work combines the efforts of some of the most original thinkers in syntactic and semantic theory today, exploring a wide variety of mismatch phenomena in a broad sampling of languages including Abaza, Chi-Mwi:ni, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, Hungarian, Japanese, San Dionicio Zapotec, and West Greenlandic. The papers collected here address the following fundamental questions:

How do mismatch phenomena challenge traditional, syntax-centered conceptions of grammar? How do competing theories of the syntax-semantics interface stand up when confronted with mismatch phenomena? What do mismatch phenomena tell us about the 'integrity of the sign'? Are some putative examples of mismatch phenomena apparent rather than actual? How can we relate theories of mismatch developed for individual languages to cross-linguistic differences in mapping relationships?

This work includes contributions from Farrell Ackerman, Alex Alsina, Henriëtte de Swart, Elaine J. Francis, Adele E. Goldberg, Richard Hudson, Robert Malouf, Laura A. Michaelis, Frederick Newmeyer, Maria Mercedes Piñango, Jerrold Sadock and Etsuyo Yuasa.

Elaine J. Francis is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of English at Purdue University. Laura A. Michaelis is an associate professor in the Department of Linguistics and a faculty fellow in the Institute of Cognitive Scienceat the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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9/1/2002