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Discourse module in mind: a biolinguistical hypothesis of macro-structure

  • Hirokuni Masuda

    Hirokuni Masuda received his Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 1995. He was formerly Assistant Professor of linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo until 2002, where he specialized in creolistics and its theoretical applications to biolinguistics. Since 2003, Masuda has been continuing his studies as an independent investigator. His current research interest is the neurobiological nature of human language, especially the internalized system of discourse representation.

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 22. September 2021

Abstract

Theoretical linguistics embraces the analytic micro-system of representation as the core of language ability, and thus deals primarily with the computations of phonology, morphology, and syntax for structural processes. Looking into recent progress in human biology, however, there have been continuous indications that the internalized language is organized for creating structural sequences larger than phrases and sentences. Research on the right cerebrum of the brain, for example, shows its neurological tasks for composing a coherent story while the studies of individuals with deficits in underpinning genotypes reveal disruptions in constructing narratives. Moreover, investigations of human evolution are compelled to acknowledge a mysterious gap in psychological capacities of Homo sapiens and their later descendant, Homo sapiens sapiens, implicating a distinct stage of the language origin beyond syntax. What all these pieces of neurobiological evidence suggest is that humans have been bestowed an inherent linguistic capability for computing the synthetic macro-system of representation.


Corresponding author: Hirokuni Masuda, Independent Researcher in Theoretical and Creole Linguistics, Tokyo, Japan, E-mail:

About the author

Hirokuni Masuda

Hirokuni Masuda received his Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 1995. He was formerly Assistant Professor of linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo until 2002, where he specialized in creolistics and its theoretical applications to biolinguistics. Since 2003, Masuda has been continuing his studies as an independent investigator. His current research interest is the neurobiological nature of human language, especially the internalized system of discourse representation.

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Received: 2019-06-22
Accepted: 2021-09-01
Published Online: 2021-09-22
Published in Print: 2022-01-27

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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