Invited Speaker

Prof. Robert Berwick (Massachussets Institute of Technology. USA)

The Cognitive Core of Human Language: Pick up the second green ball, Hal

Among many distinctive properties of human faculty of language, at least for syntax two seem central: (1) hierarchical structure in place of linear sequence; (2) phrases pronounced displaced from their original canonical position of (semantic) interpretation. For example, psycholinguistic tests firmly demonstrate that young children invariably impose an identical hierarchical structure on sequences like “the second green ball.” This talk explores how successfully these two key cognitive properties are reflected in modern parsers, along with a speculative model of the evolutionary transition from nonhuman sequence use to human language hierarchical structure.

Short Bio

Professor Berwick and his research group investigate computation and cognition, including computational models of language acquisition, language processing, and language change, within the context of machine learning, modern grammatical theory, and mathematical models of dynamical systems. A second line of inquiry is probing the biological and evolutionary underpinnings of human language, including models of language change as well as its biologically-grounded evolutionary origins, in particular, in birdsong.

Professor Berwick has been the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Award as well as the MIT Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award, MIT’s highest honor for junior faculty. He has also received an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. He helped found and run MIT’s Center for Biological and Computational Learning for more than 15 years.