A program for the Minimalist Program
-
Norbert Hornstein
Abstract
The paper reviews current understandings of the Minimalist enterprise and defends one version thereof. Our main departure from the norm involves substituting ‘cognitive generality’ (viz. non-linguistic-parochialism) for ‘computational efficiency’ as a minimalist regulative ideal. We argue that the former is important to realize minimalist ambitions. The latter, though welcome, is less vital.
Abstract
The paper reviews current understandings of the Minimalist enterprise and defends one version thereof. Our main departure from the norm involves substituting ‘cognitive generality’ (viz. non-linguistic-parochialism) for ‘computational efficiency’ as a minimalist regulative ideal. We argue that the former is important to realize minimalist ambitions. The latter, though welcome, is less vital.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface 1
- List of contributors 5
-
I. Minimalism: Quo Vadis?
- A program for the Minimalist Program 9
-
II. Exploring features in syntax
- On feature interpretability and inheritance 37
- On the need for formal features in the narrow syntax 56
- Adjunct Control and edge features 79
- On the uninterpretability of interpretable features 109
- The Merge Condition 130
-
III. Radicalizing the interfaces
- Chains in Minimalism 169
- Multiattachment syntax, “Movement” effects, and Spell-Out 195
- Flavors of movement 236
- Minimalism and I-Morphology 267
- A minimalist approach to roots 287
- Computations at the interfaces in child grammar 304
- Intensionality, grammar, and the sententialist hypothesis 315
- What is and what is not problematic about the T-model 350
- Regarding the Third Factor 363
- The role of arbitrariness from a minimalist point of view 392
- Index 417
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface 1
- List of contributors 5
-
I. Minimalism: Quo Vadis?
- A program for the Minimalist Program 9
-
II. Exploring features in syntax
- On feature interpretability and inheritance 37
- On the need for formal features in the narrow syntax 56
- Adjunct Control and edge features 79
- On the uninterpretability of interpretable features 109
- The Merge Condition 130
-
III. Radicalizing the interfaces
- Chains in Minimalism 169
- Multiattachment syntax, “Movement” effects, and Spell-Out 195
- Flavors of movement 236
- Minimalism and I-Morphology 267
- A minimalist approach to roots 287
- Computations at the interfaces in child grammar 304
- Intensionality, grammar, and the sententialist hypothesis 315
- What is and what is not problematic about the T-model 350
- Regarding the Third Factor 363
- The role of arbitrariness from a minimalist point of view 392
- Index 417
