Goals and constraints

It would be desirable to have a theory of language that is compatible both with the natural sciences and the social sciences. This means that body and mind issues have to be respected and incorporated into the framework for the theory. One can treat these perspectives as contributing goals, constraints and opportunities for falsification.

Natural sciences

• Theory of evolution
• the language mechanisms must give survival / natural selection advantages
• precursors and/or components of language mechanisms must be based on prior stages in evolution, where they must give survival / natural selection advantages
• Physiology and body-based considerations
• Action commands in language must activate neurons, thus contracting muscles and moving bones
• Perception that activates neurons must also activate language which can result in action
• some basic elements of the mechanism must be universal across humans, i.e., genetic
• Physiological and neurological research and case studies must fit
• the mechanisms must fit maturation, learning, and other life cycles (see also developmental stages below)

Social sciences

• Linguistic research
• Chomsky�s universal grammar might correspond to genetically universal brain mechanisms
• Shared semantics within linguistic groups
• Psychological experimentation and findings
• Developmental stages must be respected
• Feelings of shared reality (na�ve realism) and empathy
• Collaborative tasks, planning
• Sociological and anthropological findings must be considered
• Social institutions, culture, religion
• Philosophy and theology, economics
• Speech acts
• Faith, counter-factuals

It is essential that the theory be verifiable (falsifiable). It is important to have a theory that has some of the formal, mechanical, replicable features of mathematical theories in physics. The companion to physics (and other natural sciences) is engineering. Applying the theories in engineering applications and constructions is a second level of verification.

Verification / falsification

• Observable / measurable terms (descriptors)
• Support of experimental investigations
• Engineering applications
• Body: unclear how it might be applied and tested
• Mind: Education and schooling is the most obvious application arena

Theory presentation / representation

• Theory components, mechanisms, and formalisms
• Theory competence � how much detail can be predicted / explained
• Theory comprehensibility / elegance
• Boundaries (delineations) between asserted components to be verified and �mere� mechanisms or formalisms that are not asserted as part of the substance of the theory

It is essential that the theory be developed and tested in stages. This requires project management. Typically the most important and most difficult issues are addressed first at a high level of generality to establish the feasibility of the proposed approach. Once the essentials are established and survive initial verification, then details can be filled in, and components can be modified.

Project management: theory simplification

• Granularity and resolution of main parts
• Identifying a minimal set of main components and mechanisms
• Identifying the main hurdles that have to be passed
• Feasibility
• Navigating through the minefield of potentially falsifying evidence