著者
大野 公裕
出版者
北海道大学大学院国際広報メディア・観光学院
雑誌
国際広報メディア・観光学ジャーナル
巻号頁・発行日
vol.19, pp.21-29, 2014-09-26

The Minimalist Program (MP), which was advanced by Chomsky in 1993, is an attempt to explore the possibility that language is a perfect solution to interface conditions (Strong Minimalist Thesis, SMT). In this essay, I call attention to a significant change over the years in the characterization of “perfection of language” in SMT, i.e. a change from a methodological to an empirical characterization, and point out some of its important empirical consequences for the biological study of language. I also reconsider the methodological status of the MP in biolinguistics, illuminating the relation between two kinds of minimalism, methodological and substantive.