ABSTRACT
The minimalist program (MP) assumes three factors for linguistic design. Two of these (genetic endowment and contingent variation) are customarily presupposed within generative grammar. The third factor involves general principles of computation and overall economy, which remain controversial in linguistics and relatively obscure within MP. This chapter presents an approach to the third factor that is rooted on the concept of "dynamical frustration", a notion originating within materials science that has extended to other disciplines. The "clashes" are central to a variety of physical processes that fall under the rubric of "dynamical frustration". The arguments for a Conditions Liberating a Simple Hiatus (CLASH) system can come in several varieties: a conceptual justification of the CLASH architecture as a third factor, the presence of Fibonacci patterns in language, a principled account of cyclic phenomena, formal consequences of the CLASH architecture for minds, and neurobiological consequences of the CLASH architecture for brains.
