Human languages allow the creation of an unlimited number of messages. Syntactic Combinatorics is at the root of this remarkable property. Through the recursive application of simple Combinatorics rules (perhaps just one very general rule !), we can generate an infinite number of sentences, capable of expressing " our most hidden thoughts " (Galileo).
The syntactic structures thus created are complex objects. For a quarter of a century or so, linguists have been trying to map these structures as comprehensively as possible, in order to describe the structural invariance and variation observed in the world's languages, and to attempt to relate the generalizations observed to the principles governing the human language faculty.
A traditional characterization of language sees it as a system that relates sounds and meanings. A more general and precise definition, taking into account sign languages, characterizes language as a system that relates gestures accessible to the sensory organs (sound gestures, visible gestures, etc.) to the senses. There must therefore be points of contact between syntactic Combinatorics, systems for producing and perceiving audible or visible gestures, and systems of meaning : interfaces.
This lecture, and the associatedseminar and symposium, will explore several aspects of this complex combinatorics system and its interfaces.