Interface Strategies ― Optimal and Costly Computations

In this monograph Tanya Reinhart discusses strategies enabling the interface ofdifferent cognitive systems, which she identifies as the systems of concepts, inference, context,and sound. Her point of departure is Noam Chomsky's hypothesis that language is optimallydesigned--namely, that in many cases, the bare minimum needed for constructing syntactic derivationsis sufficient for the full needs of the interface. Deviations from this principle are viewed asimperfections.The book covers in depth four areas of the interface: quantifier scope, focus,anaphora resolution, and implicatures. The first question in each area is what makes thecomputational system (CS, syntax) legible to the other systems at the interface--how much of theinformation needed for the interface is coded already in the CS, and how it is coded. Next Reinhartargues that in each of these areas there are certain aspects of meaning and use that cannot be codedin the CS formal language, on both conceptual and empirical grounds. This residue is governed byinterface strategies that can be viewed as repair of imperfections. They require constructing andcomparing a reference set of alternative derivations to determine whether a repair operation isindeed the only way to meet the interface requirements.Evidence that reference-set computationapplies in these four areas comes from language acquisition. The required computation poses a severeload on working memory. While adults can cope with this load, children, whose working memory is lessdeveloped, fail in tasks requiring this computation.

The late Tanya Reinhart was the Interface Chair at Utrecht University Language Institute (OTS) and a Global Distinguished Professor at NYU.