Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-209) and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. The minimalist programme; 3. The strong minimalist thesis (SMT); 4. The SMT in an evolutionary context; 5. The SMT as an explanatory thesis; 6. Optimal computation and multiple realisation; 7. Conclusion.

"The development of the Minimalist Program (MP), Noam Chomsky's most recent generative model of linguistics, has been highly influential over the last twenty years. It has had significant implications not only for the conduct of linguistic analysis itself, but also for our understanding of the status of linguistics as a science. The reflections and analyses in this book contain insights into the strengths and the weaknesses of the MP. Among these are, a clarification of the content of the Strong Minimalist Thesis (SMT); a synthesis of Chomsky's linguistic and interdisciplinary discourses; and an analysis of the notion of optimal computation from conceptual, empirical and philosophical perspectives. This book will encourage graduate students and researchers in linguistics to reflect on the foundations of their discipline, and the interdisciplinary nature of the topics explored will appeal to those studying biolinguistics, neurolinguistics, the philosophy of language and other related disciplines"--

"My interest in the study of language in general, and in Chomsky's work in particular, began some fifteen years ago when, as an undergraduate student at the University of Salamanca (Spain), I came under the happy influence of two of my professors, Emilio Prieto de los Mozos and Jose Jesus Gomez Asencio. That interest culminated in the present book, which is a revised and extended version of my 2011 Essex University doctoral thesis"--