Dr. Pierre Pica

Psychol Sci 2013 Jun 26;24(6):1037-43. Epub 2013 Apr 26.

Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, INSERM, Gif sur Yvette, France.

Dev Sci 2013 May;16(3):451-62

Department of Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.

PLoS One 2011 14;6(12):e28391. Epub 2011 Dec 14.

Unité Mixte de Recherche 7023, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Saint-Denis, France.

Space, Time and Number in the Brain,

This chapter discusses whether the spatial content of formal Euclidean geometry is universally present in the way humans perceive space or whether it is a mental construction, specific to those who have received appropriate instruction. Contrary to adults, the categorization of parallel lines by young children does not rely on a rich conceptual theory of geometry. It probably relies on perceptual properties of parallel lines, such as the fact that the distance between them is constant, the fact that the two parallel segments look identical, or the fact that parallelism represents a singular point in angle values. Under the framework of transformational geometry, Euclidean geometry can be conceived as a list of embedded theories, which differ by the types of features they make explicit. Briefly, in all versions of Euclidean theory, angle and length proportions are defining features of figures, while position or orientations are not …

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011 Jun 23;108(24):9782-7. Epub 2011 May 23.

Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, 75006 Paris, France.

Med Sci (Paris) 2008 Dec;24(12):1014-6

Philos Psychol 2008 Aug;21(4):491

Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA02138, USA.

Philos Psychol 2008 Aug;21(4):507

Philosophical Psychology

• Developing earlier studies of the system of numbers in Mundurucu, this paper argues that the Mundurucu numeral system is far more complex than usually assumed. The Mundurucu numeral system provides indirect but insightful arguments for a modular approach to numbers and numerals. It is argued that distinct components must be distinguished, such as a system of representation of numbers in the format of internal magnitudes, a system of representation for individuals and sets, and one-to-one correspondences between the numerosity expressed by the number and its metrics. It is shown that while many-number systems involve a compositionality of units, sets and sets composed of units, few-number languages, such as Mundurucu, do not have access to sets composed of units in the usual way. The nonconfigurational character of the Mundurucu language, which is related to a property for which we coin the term ‘low compositionality power’, accounts for this and explains the curious fact that Mundurucus make use of marked one-to-one correspondence strategies in order to overcome the limitations of the core system at the perceptual/motor interface of the language faculty. We develop an analysis of a particular construction, parallel numbers, which has not been studied before, elucidating the whole system. This analysis, we argue, sheds new light on classical philosophical, psychological and linguistic debates about numbers and numerals and their relation to language, and more particularly, sheds light on few-number languages.
  

Science 2008 May;320(5880):1217-20

INSERM, Cognitive Neuro-imaging Unit, Institut Fédératif de Recherche (IFR) 49, Gif sur Yvette, France.

Cahier de l'Herne Chomsky

s calculation possible without language ? Or is the human ability for arithmetic dependent on the language faculty ? To clarify the relation between language and arithmetic, we studied numerical cognition in speakers of Munduruku, an Amazonian language with a very lexicon of number words. This state of affairs we claim can be understood in a model where the distinction between performance and competence is at work.

Science 2006 Jan;311(5759):381-4

INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, 91401 Orsay Cedex, France.

Science 2004 Oct;306(5695):499-503

Unité Mixte de Recherche 7023 "Formal Structures of Language," CNRS and Paris VIII University, Paris, France.

Projections and Interface Conditions

Local anaphors in French and in English have a variety of lexical and morhpological properties that are unexpected on conventional approaches to Binding Theory. We propose an account in which these characteristics follow from the fact that reflexives are essentially pronominals. On our approach, Principle B is the core of Binding Theory, and the surprising properties of local anaphors derive from the need for local anaphors to escape Principle B. We argue that all local anaphors are bimorphemic (sometimes in contrast to surface appearances), and that this structure is related to a semantics of ‘partition’ by which local anaphors escape Principle B. In support of these views we present a variety of facts that follow in a natural way from our syntactic and semantic proposals, but which to our knowledge have not previously been explained within the framework of generative grammar. Our theory is shown to have a modular character, comprising distinct contributions of Principle B, the morphological structure of local anaphors, and the broader architecture of human cognition

Proceedings of the 13th West Coast Conference in Linguistics

Our paper presents a novel theory of weak crossover effects, based entirely on quantifier scope preferences and their consequences for variable binding. The structural notion of 'crossover' play no role. We develop a theory of scope preferences which ascribes a central role to the AGR-P System.

Proceedings from the 26th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society

It is claimed that the English genitive marker 's' suprisingly mirrors- at least in some dialects of English - the three main different usage of the mono-morphemic reflexives such as 'se' in French. A solution to this paradox already noted by Jespersen (1918) is proposed drawing on Watkins paradox according to which the study of what looks like 'social' parameters might be relevant for linguistics.

Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistic Society

Abstract : This article claims that one has to distinguish between X° reflexives which do not bear phi-features, such as number, and XP complex reflexive - which do bear such features. The presence/vs absence of features, it is argued, explains the behaviour of so called long distance reflexives - first observed, within the generative tradition, in Scandinavian languages - but present all over. The observation according to which XP reflexives are clause bound, while X° reflexives in argument position are not, is some times referred to as "Pica's generalisation" (see Burzio (1987) which stressed correctly that is was the first time that such a correlation between reflexives structure, binding domains, and the role of a cycle was observed. The behaviour of reflexives it is argued derives from the properties of abstract movement at the level of Logical Form.

Sentential complementation

We claim that the Binding Theory has to be modified in order to account for the fact that certain anaphors ate subject to a condition equivalent to the Specified Subject Condition while others are not and that anaphors in argument positions and anaphors in non argument positions are respectively subject to two different locality conditions.

Grammatical Representation

Abstract : We propose a reformulation of Binding Theory according to which three different domains defined in terms of Subject, Tense, and Truth Value apply to respectively three different types of elements : anaphors in non argument positions, anaphors in argument position, and variables bound by wh-elements, hereby, suggesting that a drastic revision of the Government and Binding framework is necessary.