Search

In this paper I discuss the so-called problem of creeping minimalism, the problem of distinguishing metaethical expressivism from its rivals once expressivists start accepting minimalist theories about truth, representation, belief, and similar concepts. I argue that Dreier’s ‘explanation’ explanation is almost correct, but by critically examining it we not only get a better solution, but also draw out some interesting results about expressivism and non-representationalist theories of meaning more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammaticalised reciprocal markers in Germanic derive from combinations of a quantifier and the alterity word 'other', elaborating on a minimalist strategy of identical NP repetition suggesting rather than expressing reciprocity ('earl[s] hated earl[s]'). Subserved by quantifier floating, they develop from free to tighter syntactic combinations and eventually into morphological units, tending towards complete inflectional deactivation. Sooner or later in all Germanic languages, the quantifier part of the reciprocal gets inside prepositional phrases ('earls fought each/one with other'> 'earls fought with each/one other'). German continues this fusional theme by combining the reciprocal with prepositions in compounds; and in Bavarian it eventually gets reduced further to a bound stem limited to (partly lexicalised) combinations with a preposition, thus being barred from the direct object relation, unlike the reflexive. In tracing this overall diachronic scenario, the question is raised of the pronominality (or pro-NP-hood) of reciprocals in Germanic. It is argued that, regardless of their nominal and referential source, reciprocals here strongly incline towards becoming adverbs of attenuated, situational rather than personal reference, highlighting the relational (role reversal) rather than the (co-)referential component of reciprocity, as is common also elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will revisit the grammar of very early utterances that young children produce at around age 2 under the linguistic theory of the past 50 years. We will argue that very young children in the stage of two words and the telegraphic speech, who already know the head-complement relationship, the basic word order, the morphological properties regarding whether or not the language is agglutinative, have a specific system of 0-feature agreement then, and the detailed mechanism of the operation of Merge and Labeling proposed in the recent Minimalist thesis can be considered to be still under construction. Children are free to project unattested hypotheses based on their innately endowed knowledge, and in the course of language acquisition, there are intriguing cases where English-acquiring children fail to match their hypothesis to the input of the target language, thereby producing terroneous, scrambled sentences. We argue in this paper that the scrambled sentences that very young English-acquiring children produce (e.g., Powers 2000) can naturally be explained by assuming the child-specific system of 0-feature agreement, or the system whose spirit is consistent with AGR/TNS Omission Model (ATOM) (Schutze and Wexler 1996) for the child grammar, and Saito (2016) for the adult grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to give a precise, formal account of certain fundamental notions in minimalist syntax. Particular attention is given to the comparison of token-based (multidominance) and chain-based perspectives on Merge. After considering a version of Transfer that violates the No-Tampering Condition ( NTC), we sketch an alternative, NTC-compliant version. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimalists, such as Paul Horwich, claim that the notions of truth, reference and satisfaction are exhausted by some very simple schemes. Unfortunately, there are subtle difficulties with treating these as schemes, in the ordinary sense. So instead, minimalists regard them as illustrating one-place functions, into which we can input propositions (when considering truth) or propositional constituents (when considering reference and satisfaction). However, Bertrand Russell's Gray's Elegy argument teaches us some important lessons about propositions and propositional constituents. When applied to minimalism, these lessons show us why we should abandon it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This discussion note compares several current linguistic theories: at the extreme ends of the cur-rent views are MINIMALIST theories, which restrict themselves to the binary branching operations Move and Merge, and SIMPLER SYNTAX, which assumes flat structures and a surface-oriented map-ping between syntactic structures and grammatical functions. I show that purely surface-oriented theories have problems in accounting for the relatedness of syntactic and morphological structures and for the iteration of valence-changing processes, and I argue for a lexical analysis, as can be found in current minimalist theories, HEAD-DRIVEN PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR (HPSG), and CATEGORIAL GRAMMAR. I furthermore show that the Chom-skyan view on label computation is problematic for several reasons and should be given up in favor of explicit accounts like the one used in HPSG. I discuss problems for the analysis of com-plements and specifiers in minimalist theories with special focus on Stabler's minimalist gram-mars. I argue that once all problems are fixed, the resulting combinatorial rules are rather similar to what HPSG does. As various proponents of more surface-oriented theories like CONSTRUCTION GRAMMAR, SIM-PLER SYNTAX, and HPSG have pointed out, two types of binary branching, headed rules are not sufficient to account for the entirety of language, which leads to the conclusion that both research directions are right to a certain extent: there is need for (constraint-based versions of) Move and Merge and there is need for special phrasal constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated morphosyntactic levels of verb phrase structure (VP) of Nandi language using Minimalist Program (MP). The components of MP that were used included: feature checking, merge, move and also X-bar theory. Nandi sentences were generated and verified by native speakers of the Nandi language. The findings of this study show that the agreement subject (AgrS) can be projected in the functional nodes of the agreement subject 1 (AgrS¹) while the agreement object (AgrO) can be projected in the functional nodes of the agreement object 1 (AgrO¹). AgrS comes before the root of the verb in present tenses and after the root in the past and future tenses. The negative elements in a verb change depending on number and person. In conclusion, Nandi verb has morphosyntactic features which can be projected in the functional nodes in the VP structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a Whig history of Minimalism, suggesting that it is the natural next step in the generative program initiated in the mid 1950s. The program so conceived has two prongs: (i) unifying the disparate modules by demonstrating that they are generated by the same basic operations and respect the same general conditions and (ii) assessing which of these basic operations and conditions are parochial to the faculty of language ( FL) and which are reflect more general features of cognitive computation. What makes Minimalism 'minimal' is the conviction that the bulk of the operations and principles in FL are proprietary to that cognitive module. The article illustrates the aims of the project by discussing some ways of reducing Binding Theory to the theory of Movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimalist grammars (MGs) and multiple context-free grammars (MCFGs) are weakly equivalent in the sense that they define the same languages, a large mildly context-sensitive class that properly includes context-free languages. But in addition, for each MG, there is an MCFG which is strongly equivalent in the sense that it defines the same language with isomorphic derivations. However, the structure-building rules of MGs but not MCFGs are defined in a way that generalizes across categories. Consequently, MGs can be exponentially more succinct than their MCFG equivalents, and this difference shows in parsing models too. An incremental, top-down beam parser for MGs is defined here, sound and complete for all MGs, and hence also capable of parsing all MCFG languages. But since the parser represents its grammar transparently, the relative succinctness of MGs is again evident. Although the determinants of MG structure are narrowly and discretely defined, probabilistic influences from a much broader domain can influence even the earliest analytic steps, allowing frequency and context effects to come early and from almost anywhere, as expected in incremental models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we challenge the Optionality Criterion that goes with Recanati (2010)'s philosophical position called 'Truth-Conditional Pragmatics' (TCP). According to this criterion, any primary pragmatic process of interpretation other than saturation of context-sensitive expressions is intrinsically optional. This sense of 'optional' opposes a notion of mandatory which is too strict in so far as saturation, the only process considered as obligatory, does not always provide us with minimal propositions. This leads us to reconsider the notion of mandatory and to reformulate the core tenet of TCP in the following way: some primary pragmatic processes of modulation may have an optional demand but this does not avoid that on other occasions the same processes may be mandatorily demanded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the French philosopher François Recanati provides a summary for his book "Truth-Conditional Pragmatics." Recanati focuses on context in linguistics, the philosophy of language and semantics. Other topics include contextualism, the minimalist theory and the book "Literal Meaning" by Recanati.

In this article the French philosopher François Recanati provides a summary for his book "Truth-Conditional Pragmatics." Recanati focuses on context in linguistics, the philosophy of language and semantics. Other topics include contextualism, the minimalist theory and the book "Literal Meaning" by Recanati.

The study of language acquisition within the Chomskyan tradition has moved from a stage in which the developmental path of languages in the mind of children was ignored to a stage in which theoreticians accept that their proposals must be compatible with developmental facts, yet without really explaining them. This article suggests that generative linguistics has now attained the degree of maturity required to surpass old idealizations and carry out the task of explaining how core properties of languages grow in the mind of infants, instead of presupposing them as directly given in the genetic makeup of the species. This transition from 'taking development into account' to 'taking development seriously' is a necessary step for generative linguistics to gain credibility as a biolinguistic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore the Defective Intervention effects in the past transitive structures in two dialects of Kurdish, where variation is found in how agreement shows up on the verb. In the Northern dialect, in the presence of a Dative subject, the verb displays full agreement with the Nominative object (in person and number), whereas, in the Central dialect, in the same context, the default third person singular agreement obtains. It will be shown that the Defective Intervention as proposed in Chomsky (2000) and assumed in much subsequent work in the Minimalist Program is not adequate to explain the varied pattern of agreement attested in Kurdish past transitive structures. Drawing on the structural differences in the past transitive constructions in the two dialects, I will introduce a modification into the current formulation of Defective Intervention to the effect that in Dative-Nominative structures, agreement with the Nominative DP is blocked by the intervention of a φ-complete head that licenses the Dative DP and not by the intervention of the Dative DP itself. This approach to Defective Intervention predicts that in structures where the Dative DP is licensed by a φ-incomplete head, the Defective Intervention effects will not arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emptiness problem of the preferred semantics and the non-existence problem of the stable semantics are well recognized for argumentation frameworks. In this paper, we introduce two strong semantics, named s-preferred semantics and s-stable semantics, to guarantee the non-emptiness of the preferred extensions and the existence of the stable extensions respectively. Our semantics are defined by two concepts of extensions of argumentation frameworks, namely s-preferred extension and s-stable extension. Each is constructed in a similar way to the original semantics. The novelty of our semantics is that an extension of an argumentation framework is considered as a pair of sets of arguments, in which the second element of an extension is viewed as a kind of hypotheses that should be minimized. The s-preferred semantics not only solves the emptiness problem of the preferred semantics, but also coincides with the preferred semantics when nonempty preferred extensions exist. Meanwhile, the s-stable semantics ensures the existence of extensions, and coincides with the stable semantics when the stable extensions exist as well. The relations among various semantics for argumentation frameworks are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a unified formal framework for complex systems modeling. To this aim, we define a unified semantics for systems including integration operators. We consider complex systems as functional blackboxes (with internal states), whose structure and behaviors can be constructed through a recursive integration of heterogeneous components. We first introduce formal definitions of time (allowing to deal uniformly with both continuous and discrete times) and data (allowing to handle heterogeneous data), and introduce a generic synchronization mechanism for dataflows. We then define a system as a mathematical object characterized by coupled functional and states behaviors. This definition is expressive enough to capture the functional behavior of any real system with sequential transitions. We finally provide formal operators for integrating systems and show that they are consistent with the classical definitions of those operators on transfer functions which model real systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

. Since the seminal work of , it has been recognized that the structural configuration for bound-variable anaphora is that of c-command. One way of deriving this variable-binding condition is to capitalize on the similarities between traces and bound pronouns and to analyze the latter as spelled-out traces (see , also for a somewhat different implementation of Aoun's idea). Taking analysis of bound pronouns in English as a starting point, I account for some puzzling differences between English and Serbo-Croatian in the domain of the intrasentential pronominal anaphora. By establishing the correlation between the way English and Serbo-Croatian behave with respect to the Pronoun Insertion strategy, on the one hand, and the Left Branch Condition (), on the other, I argue that the differences under consideration boil down to the presence or absence of a DP-layer in a given language. The validity of this hypothesis is tested on a broader set of crosslinguistic data, including data from Dutch, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. The analysis I put forth supports the minimalist view of binding (; ) as well as accounts of left branch extraction languages as D-less (; ; ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Recent work on object shift in the Scandinavian languages has rejected earlier syntactic analyses in favor of prosodic or information-structural accounts. In this paper I present new evidence from Danish copular clauses that argues against a prosodic analysis of the phenomenon. In particular, I show that specificational copular clauses do not allow object shift and that this fact cannot be accounted for in prosodic terms. I propose that the observed lack of object shift is due to the fixed information structure of specificational clauses: the object is invariably focused and that is what prevents it from shifting. This account dovetails with the focus-based analysis of object shift proposed by , and is also compatible with the syntactic analysis developed by . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This afterword constructs a working typology of nominalizations, based on but not restricted to the papers collected in this special issue. The typology is based on what we call the Functional Nominalization Thesis (FNT), a version of the model of “mixed projections” proposed in which claims that nominal properties of a nominalization are contributed by a nominal functional projection; above that projection the structure has nominal properties, below it, verbal properties. We argue for four possible levels of nominalization, CP, TP, vP and VP. We show that certain internal syntactic phenomena are characteristic of different levels of nominalization: genitive subjects of nominalization at TP and below, genitive objects of nominalization at vP and below. We suggest that the inventory of categories implicated in nominalization is quite restricted: D, and nominal counterparts of ‘light’ verbal categories. We examine two alternatives to the FNT, the framework of and head-sharing approach, and argue that our treatment is more appropriate under a minimalist approach, as it accommodates the facts within an independently motivated inventory of functional categories, without positing a special type of category limited only to nominalizations. We counter Bresnan''s objections against a syntactic derivation of nominalizations by showing that a word''s lexical integrity can be successfully violated by “suspended affixation” in syntactically derived nominalizations in Turkish while such integrity has to be respected in lexically derived nominalizations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines a controversial and particularly complex case phenomenon called quantificational case attested in a number of historically unrelated Slavonic and Finno-Ugric languages, and attempts to establish certain novel cross-linguistic generalizations and conclusions. In particular, it will be argued that (i) instead of standard one-to-one case assignment, in which one case assigner is case-related to one case assignee, a many-to-many case flow is attested; (ii) nominal case is not a privilege of full DPs, arguments or thematic roles; (iii) case reflects either local or nonlocal functional structure, whether in the verbal or nominal domain; and that (iv) there is no distinction between case assignment and case concord. An analysis is provided using the probe–goal system of recent minimalist theory, although some modifications to this system are required. In particular, the system is generalized to cover the reported instances of many-to-many case assignment in which one probe can affect several goals and several probes can affect the case features of the one and the same goal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines the paper "Parameters in Minimalist Theory: The Case of Scandinavian," by Anders Holmberg. The authors negate the notion that parameters in minimalist theory (PMT) make the case for a deep parameter. They cite agreement differences as the cause of a variation between Insular Scandinavian (ISc) and Mainland Scandinavian (MSc) languages in terms of unvalued number (uNr) and unvalued person number (uPn). They note the discussion of the logical problem of language acquisition in Holmberg's paper. They stress the significance of PMT to the debate on the nature of parameters.

The P&P theory of UG has come under heavy criticism, lately, from outside but also from inside generative grammar. The claim is that the search for 'deep parameters' underlying clusters of properties across languages has led nowhere, and should be given up. I have revisited a theory, now two decades old, which explained ten syntactic differences between Insular and Mainland Scandinavian as the effects of a single parametric difference (in a series of works by C. Platzack and A. Holmberg). The theory is shown to be fundamentally right, descriptively and theoretically. Later developments in generative theory only serve to sharpen the formulations, adding another layer of explanatory depth to the earlier theory. The conclusion is that there are parameters of the traditional kind. The problems encountered when the theory is tested on more distantly related languages is discussed on the basis of facts from Finnish. P&P theory is perfectly consistent with the minimalist approach to UG and variation when parameters are seen as points of under-specification in UG, and restrictions on variation are seen as, in part, third factor effects, in the sense of Chomsky (Linguistic Inquiry 36: 1-22, 2005). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Concerning the phenomena commonly attributed to the left periphery, Sardinian does not differ from Romance languages with respect to clitic left dislocated topics, right dislocation, contrastive focus and wh-interrogatives. However, in Sardinian, there are some crucial differences in the organisation of the left periphery, compared to Italian or Spanish: First, whereas contrastive focus constructions in these languages show non-predicative, i.e. referential fronted constituents, Sardinian also allows fronted predicative elements. Second, a fronted element in Sardinian must not necessarily have contrastive focus, but is, most of the time, interpreted as having information focus. Furthermore, fronting of predicative and non-predicative elements is particularly common in yes/no questions. Fourth, Sardinian disposes of an alternative strategy to mark these polar questions via the question particle a. Finally, neither focus fronting nor question-marking through the question particle are allowed in wh- and in negated interrogative contexts. The main issue to be addressed in this paper is how the interaction between focus fronting, question-marking, negation and also topicalisation can be formalised and explained in the cartographic framework of Rizzi (1997) and, as an alternative, in a dynamic model of the feature-driven minimalist approach of . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper discusses Chomsky's (Minimalist inquiries: The framework, MIT Press, 2000; Derivation by phase, MIT Press, 2001) notion of defectiveness and its consequences for different syntactic phenomena of the Case-agreement systems within the context of Phase Theory (see Chomsky, Minimalist inquiries: The framework, MIT Press, 2000 and subsequent work). Particular attention will be paid to the status of defective T (T non selected by C, according to Chomsky, Minimalist inquiries: The framework, MIT Press, 2000; Derivation by phase, MIT Press, 2001) in Romance languages, whose existence has been questioned by Ausín (On A-Movement, 2001). It will be argued that Romance, though devoid of bona fide ECM dependents of the believe type (e.g., I believe Peter to be clever), does manifest a defective version of T in raising contexts, which I take to be selected by a defective version of C. This hypothesis will be explored by addressing the status of the so-called experiencer paradox across Romance (see Ausín, On A-Movement, 2001, Boeckx, Studia Linguistica 53: 227–250, 1999, and Torrego, Experiencers and Raising Verbs, Kluwer, 1996; Arguments for a Derivational Approach to Syntactic Relations Based on Clitics, Blackwell, 2002). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A central hypothesis of the Minimalist Program is that syntactic principles are constant across languages. Apparent syntactic variation would be reducible to variation in the lexicon, in particular variation in morphosyntactic features, and variation at the level of phonological interpretation (PF), in particular in the way syntactic structure is spelled out. This hypothesis invites large-scale microcomparative syntactic research, as minor morphosyntactic differences between closely related language varieties are expected to cause syntactic variation, such as variation in word order. In this paper, the hypothesis is tested against the data of the Syntactic Atlas of the Dutch Dialects (SAND), a project in which over 100 syntactic variables in 267 dialects of Dutch were investigated. In four case studies, involving complementizer drop, one-insertion, strong reflexives and doubling in Wh-chains, it is shown that most of syntactic variation can indeed be reduced to lexicon and PF, but that there is a residue of variation in the syntactic module concerning the size of the constituents that are copied in movement operations. Two further conclusions are that syntax plays a role in the lexicon in that it determines the limits of lexical variation and that part of syntactic variation must be explained by language-external factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article considers to what extent sample based typological research may shed light on questions of central concern within the minimalist program of generative grammar. Focusing on the nature of the structure building operation assumed within the minimalist program (Merge), it is argued that typological data may be relevant to the question whether the product of Merge, a pair of sisters, is symmetric or asymmetric. To this end, a case study is presented showing a fundamental and universal asymmetry between the members of a binary noun phrase coordination, such that the relation between the two conjuncts is invariably marked on the second conjunct. Assuming coordination to present the product of ‘pure Merge’ (i.e. undisturbed by further movement operations or rearrangements of any other kind), the result suggests that Merge creates an asymmetric sister pair, in which linear order and morphological dependency marking are consistently patterned. The article argues that this is generally the case in contexts of ‘restricted syntax’, which might equally well be studied using large typological samples. The article furthermore argues that the asymmetry between members of sister pairs involves both phonological and semantic dependence, suggesting that the asymmetry originates within the central syntactic component of grammar. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The author presents a commentary on the practice of copy deletion in the field of linguistics. He considers the applicability of analyses of familiar languages to phenomena on a less familiar language. He also addresses V-topicalization that is connected to the assumption that topicalization structures involve syntatic movement. The author commends a proposal of Tue Trinh about the interpretation of a focus of parametrization in Minimalist syntax.

The main purpose of this paper is to document a phenomenon of copy adjunct control in Telugu, a Dravidian language, and to provide a derivation of the relevant structures within the framework of the Minimalist Program. Copy adjunct control is a relation of co-identity between the subject in the matrix clause and the subject in an adjunct of the same structure. Both subjects are pronounced. I analyze Copy Control structures as instances of multiple copy spell-out derived via movement, whereby movement is understood as copy-plus-merge. Decisions concerning the pronunciation of copies are prepared for in the syntax, but they are made on the phonological side of the computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the relegation of the binding theory to the C-I interface (LF) is theoretically undesirable and empirically unwarranted. Recent minimalist research has sought to eliminate the binding theory from UG by reducing its conditions to narrow-syntactic operations ( Hornstein 2000, 2006 ; Reuland 2001, 2006 ; Kayne 2002 ; Zwart 2002, 2006 ; Hicks 2006 ). This approach remains controversial since the canonical minimalist binding theory ( Chomsky 1993 ; Chomsky & Lasnik 1993 ) views the binding conditions as interpretive rules applying at LF, supported by evidence that condition A interacts with other interpretive phenomena assumed to be determined at LF ( Lebeaux 1998 ; Fox & Nissenbaum 2004 ). While the interaction of anaphor binding and scope relations in particular is not disputed, I show that it is attributable to factors outside the binding theory, namely the requirement that variables (including anaphors) must be c-commanded by their binders at LF. Deprived of its strongest empirical argument, the LF binding theory can then be picked apart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to determine the nature of naturalistic learners' difficulty with grammatical gender in a complex morphological system, the longitudinal production data of an early naturalistic L1-Italian and L1-Turkish learner who are acquiring German are examined in light of current theories of gender within Chomsky's (1995) Minimalist Program. After analyzing the speakers' marking on determiners, adjectives and pronouns, we conclude that these learners' errors in the gender of German nouns are the result of at least four factors: inadequate lexical learning, mapping difficulty, processing pressure, and parsing errors that cause the paradigm to be inadequately learned. These factors may be particularly problematic for learners acquiring a system such as the one in German, where gender marking is conflated with case and number on determiners, adjectives and pronouns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimal entities are, roughly, those that fall under notions defined by only deflationary principles. In this paper I provide an accurate characterization of two types of minimal entities: minimal properties and minimal facts. This characterization is inspired by both Schiffer’s notion of a pleonastic entity and Horwich’s notion of minimal truth. I argue that we are committed to the existence of minimal properties and minimal facts according to a deflationary notion of existence, and that the appeal to the inferential role reading of the quantifiers does not dismiss this commitment. I also argue that deflationary existence is language-dependent existence—this clarifies why minimalists about properties and facts are not realists about these entities though their language may appear indistinguishable from the language of realists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the syntax and semantics of Romance clitic impersonal constructions (CL-ICs), as present in the grammars of Spanish and Italian, within the framework of the Minimalist Program. Syntactically, these structures are characterised by the presence of the clitic se/si, which is analysed as a 0-person clitic, along with other person clitics in Romance, and heads a functional projection in the temporal domain immediately above T(ense). The syntactic properties of CL-ICs can be accounted for with reference to the complex agreement operations involving the clitic se/si, the empty category in subject position (a null generic pronoun: G-pro), the object argument in transitive contexts, and the features of the heads T and v. The interpretation of CL-ICs crucially relies on the presence of G-pro in the specifier position of vP: it introduces a variable that can be bound by an existential or a universal quantifier, which accounts for the variable quantificational force of CL-ICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within both emergentist and nativist approaches to the study of second language acquisition, a primary aim of research is to minimize the hypothesized innate capacities that are necessary to explain acquisition. In relation to this criterion, this article examines two sets of constructs in each theoretical approach: constructs used to characterize the nature of language and to characterize the nature of language learning. The article concludes that the emergentist approach does minimize innate constructs, but is currently too limited to explain the range of facts that have been considered by UG researchers. Conversely, Minimalist constructs are extensive, abstract, powerful, and not minimal. A viable solution might be found in the frontier between these two approaches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents an overview of the diverse body of thought known as ‘emergentism’, as it is manifested in the study of language. It is suggested that a unifying theme of emergentist work is the rejection of inborn grammatical principles (Universal Grammar) in favor of more general mechanisms of cognition and learning. A variety of emergentist proposals are outlined and the general thrust of this work is compared to ideas that have recently been put forward within the Minimalist Program. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on combinatorial variability and the compatibility of the findings of variationist sociolinguistics with standard versions of Minimalism. The author provides an analysis of the variable patterns of use and was and were in Buckie English which, according to him, assumed a purely linguistic module, free of social and usage information. He defends a model of Sociolinguistics-free Syntax and Use-free Syntax. He contends that from his perspective, the mechanisms that build grammatical structure are blind to information about social facts or facts about usage.

Adopting the hypothesis that both NP-movement of subjects and scrambling of objects are instances of A-movement, this article aims at accounting for the similarities and differences between these movements within the so-called derivation-and-evaluation framework, which combines certain aspects from the minimalist program and optimality theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refers to "Phase Extension Contours of a theory of the role of head movement in phrasal extraction," by Marcel den Dikken, and to the phasal and minimalist hypotheses that were proposed in Chomsky (1986,1993). The commentary contrasts the potential of den Dikken and Noam Chomsky's views on the mechanism of head-movement and locality to explain syntax interaction with external systems and predication structures. Phase Impenetrability, barrierhood, phasehood, Equidistance, Inclusiveness, government transparency corollary, and mapping from syntax are mentioned.

The article refers to "Phase Extension Contours of a theory of the role of head movement in phrasal extraction," by Marcel den Dikken, and to locality in the Minimalist framework. The commentary discusses Minimal Link Condition (MLC), phases in syntactic derivations, and the Phase Impenetrability Condition of Chomsky (2000) which strengthens MLC. The focus is whether or not the phasal status of a predication structure is fixed and if the small clause with a RELATOR head is a phase. Predicate inversion, minimal domain in Chomsky (1995), linguistic models, and wh-elements of extraction are mentioned.

The article refers to "Phase Extension Contours of a theory of the role of head movement in phrasal extraction," by Marcel den Dikken. Den Dikken's views on locality differ from Chomsky (2000, 2001, 2004) which supports a phase-based model of syntax. Den Dikken defines Phasehood in terms of semantic property instead of propositionality and Den Dikken's hypothesis is that head movement extends inherent phases. The commentary discusses the cyclic nature of Spell Out (Transfer), the mechanism of head movement, constraint of Free Spell Out by the economy principle, dative shift, embedded verbs and small clause complements, and a mathematical model.

The article refers to "Phase Extension Contours of a theory of the role of head movement in phrasal extraction," by Marcel den Dikken and to the concept of Property Delay. The commentary discusses the context of den Dikken's views on Phase Extension, the Phase Impenetrability Condition in Chomsky (2000), Adjunction Prohibition, and Inherent Phase. The five aspects of Phase Extension are Head Movement, Property Delay (PD), Property Transfer (PT), and phase building under PD and PT. The category of RELATOR in the subject-predicate configuration, the meaningless category, Minimalist linguistics, and Cyclic Linearization are mentioned.

This paper explores the interaction between two independently well studied wh-movement strategies: across-the-board wh-movement and left-branch extraction. Focusing on Slavic languages, which allow both ATB movement and left-branch extraction in isolation, it shows that ATB left-branch extraction is subject to a rather surprising restriction: the ‘‘remnants’’ inside the second conjunct must be distinct from their ‘‘correspondents’’ inside the first conjunct. The account of this restriction developed in this paper relies on the interaction of two independently motivated principles: the Linear Correspondence Axiom of Kayne 1994 and a structural economy condition formulated within the framework of Chomsky's (1995) Minimalist Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the response of the authors on the comment of David Adger related to their article on symptomatic imperfection in the Minimalist literature. The authors argues in symptomatic imperfections that the low standard of formal rigor and explicitness in the Minimalist program is problematic. They discuss the contention in symptomatic imperfection.

The article discusses the author's perspectives on symptomatic imperfections of feature theory in the Minimalist literature by Ash Asudeh and Ida Toivonen. He discusses the difference between the authors of symptomatic imperfections and his theoretical linguistics in the absence of a formalization. He points out the concerns about the feature system in core syntax.

This paper is a critique of two foundational assumptions of generative work culminating in the Minimalist Program: the assumption that, as a matter of conceptual necessity, language has a ‘double-interface property’ and the related assumption that phonology has a realizational function with respect to syntax-semantics. The issues are broached through a critique of Holmberg's (2000) analysis of Stylistic Fronting in Icelandic. We show that, although empirically motivated, and although based on the double-interface assumption, this analysis is incompatible with that assumption and with the notion of (phonological) realization. Independently of Stylistic Fronting, we argue that the double-interface assumption is a problematic legacy of Saussure's conception of the linguistic sign and that, conceptually, it is neither explanatory nor necessary. The Representational Hypothesis (e.g. Burton-Roberts 2000) develops a Peircian conception of the relation between sound and meaning that breaks with the Saussurian tradition, though in a way consistent with minimalist goals. Other superficially similar approaches (Lexeme—Morpheme Base Morphology, Distributed Morphology, Jackendoff's Parallel Architecture) are discussed; it is argued that they, too, perpetuate aspects of Saussurian thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a plausibility argument for a new way of thinking about intra-personal morphosyntactic variation. The idea is embedded within the framework of the Minimalist Program, and makes use of notions of feature interpretability and feature checking. Specifically, I argue that underspecification of uninterpretable features in a matching relation with interpretable features allows us to model categoricality and variability within a single system. Unlike many current approaches to intra-personal variation (which involve multiple grammars or building stochastic weightings into the grammar itself), the system attempts to predict (rather than capture) frequencies of variants. It does this by combining an evaluation metric for the acquisition of uninterpretable features with the standard properties of features and syntactic operations in the Minimalist framework. The argument is made through a case study of was/were variation in a Scottish dialect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control has played an important role in theoretical debates within the Minimalist Program. This is so because control implicates notions such as module, θ-role, the Last Resort nature of syntactic operations, movement, binding, chains, Case, complementation, and more. Hornstein (1999) has controversially claimed that control is a subspecies of movement. That is, control is just like familiar instances of raising, except that it involves movement into an additional θ-position. If correct, the movement analysis has important conceptual and empirical repercussions, some of which are examined here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents unusual patterns in raising and control and offers a syntactic account which would validate such patterns. On the empirical side, we present evidence for backward control (data from several languages), backward raising (in Adyghe), copy control (Zapotec, Assamese, Tongan) and copy raising (data from a number of languages). All the unusual cases of raising and control seem to involve an A-movement chain in which the lower, not the higher copy is pronounced, or both copies are spelled out. We also review some constructions which, while superficially resembling backward or copy structure, do not provide any evidence for a movement chain. On the theoretical side, assuming that the more unusual patterns are an empirical reality, linguistic theory should be capable of analyzing them. We present mechanisms from the current Minimalist Program which we believe allow the attested variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents grammar and languages and syntax in the "Minimalist syntax" and "Core syntax" textbooks. It states that although the Minimalist Program has opened up new research avenues for Principles and Parameters theory, it has left the analytical part of the theory in poor condition. The theoretical flaws in the mentioned textbooks are symptomatic of problems in the Minimalist Program at large and the books are used to look for underlying problems with the programmatic Minimalist approach to P&P theory.

The rigors of the Minimalist Program eliminate movement operations, traces, and 1980s-style conditions of government. This article emphasizes poverty-of-stimulus problems, reviews lexical government effects, and captures them (and more) by treating certain deletion as cliticization. This analysis carves up the grammatical world differently, linking former “movement” conditions with phonological reductions, VP ellipsis, gapped verbs, some agreement relations, etc. The productivity of the analysis supports the rigors of the Minimalist Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two objects of ditransitive locative applicatives in Kinyarwanda display asymmetrical behaviour with respect to syntactic movement. Whereas the applied object (the goal) of a locative can be extracted in relative clauses, become the subject of a passive and incorporate as an object marker, the theme cannot undergo any of these operations, at least not as long as the applied object remains in object position. However, once the applied object has been passivised, relativised or incorporated, the theme is also free to move. We analyse these observations on the basis of the Minimal Link Condition (MLC) (Chomsky, 1995; 2000), which excludes movement of an element α to a position K if there is another element 13 of the same type which is closer to K. We show that the theme cannot move in Kinyarwanda locative applicatives because the applied object is closer to the potential landing site. However, in contexts in which the applied object has been moved ‘out of the way’, the MLC no longer blocks movement of the theme. In our analysis, we discuss a number of key theoretical concepts of the Minimalist Program, such as the Extension Condition, the notion of minimal domain, and derivation by phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]