Musings on the left periphery in West Germanic
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Gema Chocano
Abstract
An analysis of German Left Dislocation is proposed which combines the findings in recent work on the construction with a theoretical model of syntactic derivation that dispenses with the existence of the EPP-feature. The findings at stake are basically those in Frey (2000, 2004a), where it is shown that the topical character of left-dislocated structures is the result of movement of the D-pronoun to a middle-field, and not a pre-field, topic projection. The theoretical model adopted is ‘Survive Minimalism’ (Stroik, 2009; Putnam, 2007; Putnam and Stroik, in progress). The core of the proposal is that ‘Merge’ of both the D-pronoun and the left-dislocated XP with C is triggered by the presence of a [+REF] feature on the three heads, as in Stroik’s (2009) account of English wh-constructions with a pair-list reading.
Abstract
An analysis of German Left Dislocation is proposed which combines the findings in recent work on the construction with a theoretical model of syntactic derivation that dispenses with the existence of the EPP-feature. The findings at stake are basically those in Frey (2000, 2004a), where it is shown that the topical character of left-dislocated structures is the result of movement of the D-pronoun to a middle-field, and not a pre-field, topic projection. The theoretical model adopted is ‘Survive Minimalism’ (Stroik, 2009; Putnam, 2007; Putnam and Stroik, in progress). The core of the proposal is that ‘Merge’ of both the D-pronoun and the left-dislocated XP with C is triggered by the presence of a [+REF] feature on the three heads, as in Stroik’s (2009) account of English wh-constructions with a pair-list reading.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface ix
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Part I. Introduction
- Traveling without moving 3
- The numeration in Survive-minimalism 21
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Part II. Studies of movement phenomena and structure building in Survive-minimalism
- Long-distance agreement without Probe-Goal relations 41
- Musings on the left periphery in West Germanic 57
- Tense, finiteness and the survive principle 91
- When grammars collide 133
- Using the Survive principle for deriving coordinate (a)symmetries 169
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Part III. Covert and non-movement operations in Survive-minimalism
- Syntactic identity in Survive-minimalism 195
- Evidence for Survive from covert movement 231
- Language change and survive 257
- Towards a derivational syntax index 267
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface ix
-
Part I. Introduction
- Traveling without moving 3
- The numeration in Survive-minimalism 21
-
Part II. Studies of movement phenomena and structure building in Survive-minimalism
- Long-distance agreement without Probe-Goal relations 41
- Musings on the left periphery in West Germanic 57
- Tense, finiteness and the survive principle 91
- When grammars collide 133
- Using the Survive principle for deriving coordinate (a)symmetries 169
-
Part III. Covert and non-movement operations in Survive-minimalism
- Syntactic identity in Survive-minimalism 195
- Evidence for Survive from covert movement 231
- Language change and survive 257
- Towards a derivational syntax index 267
