Locating Logic Faculty in the Mental System

Abstract

Taken from Chomsky’s Knowledge of Language (1986), it is noted that logical form (LF) is not a direct reflection of deep structure (D-structure). It has induced a question, where is then 'logic' located in the human psychology (in the sense of the mind-system) if it is not in the D-structure. To answer this question, we will try to see how different languages (in this paper, English, Malay and Turkish) are structured differently on the surface (S-structure) yet can have the same internal syntax (D-structure). However, when there is a change in semantics (in the sense of intended meaning), a change in LF is noted, although the D-structure might remain the same. Making sense of this, we argue that D-structure is not the innermost faculty of the human innate system (mind) but rather, how S-structure is to D-structure, that is how D-structure is to the human logic faculty. In other words, with D-structure, logic faculty is more profound.