Reconsidering recursion in syntactic theory

This paper considers the role of recursion in syntactic theory, and three particular aspects of this broad topic are addressed. The use of recursive devices in formal grammars in the 1950s is summarised, and the work of Bar-Hillel and Chomsky from this period is analysed in some detail. Having established this historical context, the role of recursive definitions within the Minimalist Program is discussed at length, and the main focus falls upon comparatively recent claims concerning the centrality of recursion in the context of biolinguistics. Specifically, the hypothesis that recursion constitutes a species-specific property of the human language faculty that is particularly associated with natural language is (re)assessed, and it is suggested that, in the context of syntactic theory, the problematic term ‘recursion’ should be abandoned and replaced by less ambiguous terminology such as ‘inductive definition’.