Minimalist Syntax The Essential Readings

by Boskovic, Zeljko; Lasnik, Howard

• ISBN13: 9780631233046
• ISBN10: 0631233040
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-17
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book is a collection of key readings on Minimalist Syntax, the most recent, and arguably most important, theoretical development within the Principles and Parameters approach to syntactic theory. The volume includes an introduction and overview of the Minimalist Program written by two prominent researchers. Minimalist Syntax: The Essential Readings excerpts crucial pieces from the beginning of Minimalism to the most recent work and provides invaluable coverage of its most important topics.

Author Biography

Željko Boškovic is Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of The Syntax of Nonfinite Complementation: An Economy Approach (1997) and On the Nature of the Syntax–Phonology Interface: Cliticization and Related Phenomena (2001).

Howard Lasnik is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Maryland. His publications include Essays on Anaphora (1989), Minimalist Analysis (Blackwell, 1999), Minimalist Investigations in Linguistic Theory (2003), and A Course in Minimalist Syntax (with Juan Uriagereka, Blackwell, 2005).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1
1 The Basic Design of Language: Levels of Representation and Interaction with Interfaces	14
1.1 General Background	14
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	14
Noam Chomsky
Derivation by Phase	14
Noam Chomsky
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	15
Noam Chomsky
1.2 Levels of Representation	17
D-Structure, Theta-Criterion, and Movement into Theta-positions	17
Željko Boškovic
A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory	42
Noam Chomsky
1.3 Recent Developments: Multiple Spell-Out	60
A Derivational Approach to Syntactic Relations	60
Samuel D. Epstein, Erich M. Groat, Ruriko Kawashima, and Hisatsugu Kitahara
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	62
Noam Chomsky
Beyond Explanatory Adequacy	63
Noam Chomsky
2 Eliminating Government	66
2.1 Case	66
On the Subject of Infinitives	66
Howard Lasnik and Mamoru Saito
A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory	75
Noam Chomsky
2.1.1 Recent Developments	79
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	79
Noam Chomsky
2.2 PRO	86
2.2.1 Null Case	86
The Syntax of Nonfinite Complementation: An Economy Approach	86
Željko Boškovic
2.2.2 Eliminating PRO: Movement into 0-positions	111
Movement and Control	111
Norbert Hornstein
2.3 Locality	131
The Theory of Principles and Parameters	131
Noam Chomsky and Howard Lasnik
A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory	132
Noam Chomsky
Economy of Derivation and the Generalized Proper Binding Condition	133
Chris Collins
Elementary Operations and Optimal Derivations	144
Hisatsugu Kitahara
Categories and Transformations	154
Noam Chomsky
Local Economy	168
Chris Collins
Move or Attract?	173
Masao Ochi
A-movement and the EPP	186
Željko Boškovic
2.3.1 Recent Developments: Phases	212
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	212
Noam Chomsky
Derivation by Phase	216
Noam Chomsky
Successive Cyclicity, Anti-locality, and Adposition Stranding	219
Klaus Abels
3 Structure Building and Lexical Insertion	223
3.1 Bare Phrase Structure	223
Categories and Transformations	223
Noam Chomsky
Beyond Explanatory Adequacy	230
Noam Chomsky
3.2 Numeration and the Merge-over-Move Preference	231
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	231
Noam Chomsky
3.3 Cycle	233
Movement in Language: Interactions and Architectures	233
Norvin Richards
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	240
Noam Chomsky
3.4 Covert Lexical Insertion	243
LF Movement and the Minimalist Program	243
Željko Boškovic
3.5 Eliminating Agr	257
Categories and Transformations	257
Noam Chomsky
4 Verbal Morphology	263
4.1 Head Movement and/or Affix Hopping?	263
Verbal Morphology: Syntactic Strualtres Meets The Minimalist Program	263
Howard Lasnik
4.2 Head Movement as a PF Phenomenon	278
Derivation by Phase	278
Noam Chomsky
Head-ing toward PF	280
Cedric Boeckx and Sandra Stjepanoviä
5 LCA/C-command Related Issues	288
The Antisymmetry of Syntax	288
Richard S. Kayne
Categories and Transformations	309
Noam Chomsky
Un-principled Syntax: The Derivation of Syntactic Relations	315
Samuel D. Epstein
Multiple Spell-Out	329
Juan Uriagereka
Cyclicity and Extraction Domains	337
Jairo Nunes and Juan Uriagereka
6 Copy Theory of Movement	343
Linearization of Chains and Sideward Movement	343
Jairo Nunes
Morphosyntax: The Syntax of Verbal Inflection	365
Jonathan Bobaljik
7 Existential Constructions	368
A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory	368
Noam Chomsky
Categories and Transformations	369
Noam Chomsky
Last Resort	377
Howard Lasnik
7.1 Recent Developments	394
Derivation by Phase	394
Noam Chomsky
Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework	395
Noam Chomsky
Beyond Explanatory Adequacy	396
Noam Chomsky
8 Syntax/Semantics Interface	398
Economy and Scope	398
Danny Fox
Reconstruction, Binding Theory, and the Interpretation of Chains	414
Danny Fox
Minimalism and Quantifier Raising	423
Norbert Hornstein
Index	440