Order and Structure in Language

The book puts forward a new view of the interaction among linear order, labeling and hierarchy in human language. By referring to theories bearing on this issue, including Kayne’s Antisymmetry, Chomsky’s Minimalism, Brody’s Mirror Theory and Cinque’s views on word order generalizations, the volume develops the original insight that hierarchical structure is built from linear order, by defining the relevant Bootstrapping algorithm. It also presents an investigation of some main typological consequences of the theory (in the verbal and nominal domain), original experimental evidence in support of the theory and an extension of the Bootstrapping algorithm to the relation between rhythm and metrical structure in music.