Andrea Moro. Impossible Languages and the gift of limits

Please find below the title and abstract of the talk that Prof. Andrea Moro will give on October 17 at 3pm at Institut Jean Nicod in Paris.

Title : Impossible Languages and the gift of limits.

Abstract : Human languages ignore the linear order of words and exploit hierarchical structures : why are these “flat languages” impossible ? Is it an arbitrary and cultural convention or is it due to a biologically determined set of instructions characterizing the children’s “stem mind” ? By designing artificial impossible languages it has been possible to prove that the biological hypothesis is the correct one. This selective pre-experiential grid constitutes the boundaries of Babel and it turns out to be both a powerful tool for facilitating spontaneous language acquisition and a sharp baseline to distinguish human language faculty from AI models such as those exploiting vLLM. 

The talk will also be streamed to allow remote attendance for those who cannot join in person.