ABSTRACT
Neuroscience frequently examines grammar as a modular system to compute syntactic structures, and analyzes lexical meaning conveyed by nouns or verbs. This chapter starts with a critical review of conventional approaches to grammar and meaning, motivating a neurosemiotics of grammar with three main tenets: (1) syntax conveys meaning, framing episodic events into fundamental dimensions; (2) syntax provides referential tools, informing the computational problem of specifying reference between speakers; and (3) syntax reuses ancient neural networks for new functions. In sum, grammar recruits multisystemic neural resources to implement semantic and pragmatic functions in communicative contexts.
