Sydney Lamb
Encyclopedia
Sydney MacDonald Lamb is an American
linguist
and professor at Rice University
, whose stratificational grammar is a significant alternative theory to Chomsky's
transformational grammar
.
He has specialized in Neurocognitive Linguistics and a stratificational
approach to language understanding.
Lamb earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley
in 1958 before joining as a teacher there from 1956 to 1964. In 1964, he began teaching at Yale University before later joining the Semionics Associates in Berkeley, California
in 1977. Lamb did research in North American Indian languages specifically in those geographically centered around California
. His contributions have been wide ranging, including those to historical linguistics
, computational linguistics
, and the theory of linguistic structure. His work led to innovative designs of content-addressable memory
hardware for microcomputer
s.
He is best known as the father of the relational network theory of language, which is also known as "stratificational theory". Near the turn of the millennium, he has been developing the theory further and exploring its possible relationships to neurological structures and to thinking processes. His early work developed the notion of "sememe" as a semantic object, analogous to the morpheme
or phoneme
in linguistics; it was one of the inspirations of Roger Schank
's Conceptual dependency theory
, a methodology for representing language meaning directly within the Artificial Intelligence
movement of the 1960s/1979s.
In 1999, his book — Pathways of the Brain: The Neurocognitive Basis of Language expressing some these ideas — was published.
See also: "Linguistic and Cognitive Networks" Cognition: A Multiple View (ed. Paul Garvin) New York: Spartan Books, 1970, pp.195-222. Reprinted in Makkai and Lockwood, Readings in Stratificational Linguistics (1973), pp. 60-83.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and professor at Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, whose stratificational grammar is a significant alternative theory to Chomsky's
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
transformational grammar
Transformational grammar
In linguistics, a transformational grammar or transformational-generative grammar is a generative grammar, especially of a natural language, that has been developed in the Chomskyan tradition of phrase structure grammars...
.
He has specialized in Neurocognitive Linguistics and a stratificational
Stratificational linguistics
Stratificational Linguistics is a view of linguistics advocated by Sydney Lamb. His theories advocate that language usage and production is stratificational in nature.Specifically, that there are separate 'strata' or levels in the brain used for language...
approach to language understanding.
Lamb earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1958 before joining as a teacher there from 1956 to 1964. In 1964, he began teaching at Yale University before later joining the Semionics Associates in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in 1977. Lamb did research in North American Indian languages specifically in those geographically centered around California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. His contributions have been wide ranging, including those to historical linguistics
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
, computational linguistics
Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective....
, and the theory of linguistic structure. His work led to innovative designs of content-addressable memory
Content-addressable memory
Content-addressable memory is a special type of computer memory used in certain very high speed searching applications. It is also known as associative memory, associative storage, or associative array, although the last term is more often used for a programming data structure...
hardware for microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
s.
He is best known as the father of the relational network theory of language, which is also known as "stratificational theory". Near the turn of the millennium, he has been developing the theory further and exploring its possible relationships to neurological structures and to thinking processes. His early work developed the notion of "sememe" as a semantic object, analogous to the morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
or phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
in linguistics; it was one of the inspirations of Roger Schank
Roger Schank
Roger Schank is an American artificial intelligence theorist, cognitive psychologist, learning scientist, educational reformer, and entrepreneur.-Academic career:...
's Conceptual dependency theory
Conceptual dependency theory
Conceptual dependency theory is a model of natural language understanding used in artificial intelligence systems.Roger Schank at Stanford University introduced the model in 1969, in the early days of artificial intelligence...
, a methodology for representing language meaning directly within the Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
movement of the 1960s/1979s.
In 1999, his book — Pathways of the Brain: The Neurocognitive Basis of Language expressing some these ideas — was published.
See also: "Linguistic and Cognitive Networks" Cognition: A Multiple View (ed. Paul Garvin) New York: Spartan Books, 1970, pp.195-222. Reprinted in Makkai and Lockwood, Readings in Stratificational Linguistics (1973), pp. 60-83.