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Ray Jackendoff, a theoretical linguist and cognitive scientist at Tufts University, has been developing his theory of the linguistic Parallel Architecture since departing from the narrow syntactic research first undertaken during his formative years (as a student of Noam Chomsky).

Undergoing revision and justification in numerous publications since then, Jackendoff's proposed PA paradigm, a non-syntactocentric approach to interfacing the key linguistic components of syntax and phonology with SM and CI (alias semantics), has evolved to call for a unity of the sciences in solving the problem of language. I first found him in my research for a class on physiological optics wherein I was seeking to report on the intersection of visual perception and language.

I'm curious to know what, if any, critical conversation has been sparked as a result of this paradigm's proposal. Have Chomsky or any of the other proponents of GB/P&P/MP responded to this characterization of the linguistic faculty (and its varied implications for cognitive science)?

mncz
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    Relatedly, I'm curious about what traditional generative syntacticians think of Culicover+Jackendoff's Simpler Syntax (which I think is part of the Parallel approach) as a model. – melissa_boiko Aug 31 '16 at 18:35

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I sketched out a conservative approach to the interface among syntax, morphology, and phonology in another answer here, which depends essentially on parallel processing and does not distinguish in principle between syntactic, morphological, and phonological rules. I know it doesn't answer the question you asked, but it's related.

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Greg Lee
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