Flavors of movement
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Peter Kosta
Abstract
In this paper we revisit a distinction that has been core to GB and Minimalist approaches to the property of displacement in natural languages: the opposition between A(rgumental) and A′ (non-argumental) positions, as sources and targets of the general operation Move-α. Minimalism brought an additional requirement for the establishment of chains generated via movement, the Chain Uniformity Principle, requiring that all members of a chain be in uniform positions with respect to a certain property. We will argue that such chains, even if possible in principle, are not desirable for both theoretical and empirical reasons, with Radical Minimalism as our theoretical framework. The rejection of the Chain Uniformity Principle will ultimately lead us to revisit the A/A′ distinction as a real and relevant theoretical concept.
Abstract
In this paper we revisit a distinction that has been core to GB and Minimalist approaches to the property of displacement in natural languages: the opposition between A(rgumental) and A′ (non-argumental) positions, as sources and targets of the general operation Move-α. Minimalism brought an additional requirement for the establishment of chains generated via movement, the Chain Uniformity Principle, requiring that all members of a chain be in uniform positions with respect to a certain property. We will argue that such chains, even if possible in principle, are not desirable for both theoretical and empirical reasons, with Radical Minimalism as our theoretical framework. The rejection of the Chain Uniformity Principle will ultimately lead us to revisit the A/A′ distinction as a real and relevant theoretical concept.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
