Spell-Out and the Minimalist Program

by Uriagereka, Juan

• ISBN13: 9780199593521
• ISBN10: 0199593523
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-02-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Since Juan Uriagereka originated the multiple spell-out model in 1999 it has been one of the most influential lines of research in syntactic theorizing. The model simplified a crucial element of the minimalist account of language making it a more accurate reflection of syntax and its acquisition. In this book he explores important consequences of the multiple spell-out hypothesis and of the linked notion of cyclicity. He combines the latest thinking in linguistics with perspectives drawn from physics, biology, and animal behaviour, aiming thereby to advance the field first described by Noam Chomsky as biolinguistics. Without simplifying them Professor Uriagereka seeks to present the issues and their broader biological significance clearly and succinctly in ways that are accessible to scholars from adjacent fields with a limited background in linguistics. His analogies and comparisons between linguistic and non-linguistic phenomena (such as the syntax of birdsong) will be of value to both non-linguists and linguists, whose overriding concerns with narrow linguistic questions may sometimes obscure their broader biological significance. The subjects discussed in the book include the linearization of structure, the punctuated nature of a derivation (the multiple spell-out model), cyclicity and its consequences for locality, and the definition of c-command and its relevance to various types of grammatical dependency. The author discusses the evolutionary implications of his work, considering, for example, whether the punctuated nature of the derivation is a resolution of conflicting demands that yield an equilibrium found in nature more generally. This groundbreaking book will appeal to a wide range of readers in linguistics and cognitive science.

Author Biography

Juan Uriagereka has been Professor of Linguistics at the University of Maryland since 2000. He has held visiting professorships at the universities of Konstanz, Tsukuba, and the Basque country. His books include Syntactic Anchors: On Semantic Structure, with Howard Lasnik, A Course in Minimalist Syntax and, co-edited with Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini and Pello Salaburu, Of Minds and Language.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
Derivations	p. 2
The extension of computational theories	p. 8
The main argument for bottom-up systems	p. 12
How the cycle colors the orthogonality of computations	p. 17
Three factors of language design	p. 23
What sort of computational complexity?	p. 31
Evo-devo considerations	p. 34
Dynamical frustration as a third factor	p. 37
The CLASH model	p. 41
Ultrametricity in syntax?	p. 43
The Multiple Spell-out attempt to rationalize the cycle	p. 45
Linearization	p. 49
Conceptualizing the Squeezing Problem	p. 49
The Finite State Limit on phrase structure	p. 52
Context-sensitive dependencies	p. 57
Context-sensitive asymmetries	p. 63
Incremental parsing and information flow	p. 69
Linearizing complex branchings	p. 71
LCA vs. MLCA parsing of complex structures	p. 76
Conclusions	p. 80
Sub-extraction	p. 83
A summary of the MSO proposal based on the LCT	p. 83
Off-line information	p. 88
Possible subject sub-extractions?	p. 93
Genuine subject sub-extractions	p. 101
A careful experiment	p. 104
Adjunct sub-extraction	p. 114
Conclusions	p. 119
C-command	p. 121
An architecture based on c-command	p. 121
C-command throughout	p. 125
C-command in construal	p. 133
C-command in morpho-phonemics	p. 137
Is c-command derived or eliminated?	p. 140
Beyond c-command	p. 143
Conclusions	p. 150
Cyclicity	p. 152
Multiple cyclicity conditions	p. 152
Cyclicity within compounds	p. 154
Is compounding recursive?	p. 159
Compounding as atomization and the notion 'head of the compound'	p. 166
Parametric differences in Spell-out?	p. 169
Reconstruction effects	p. 172
Adjunct deactivation and linearization	p. 175
Adjunct opacity	p. 180
Conclusions	p. 186
Antecedents and Consequents	p. 188
Antecedents	p. 188
Phases	p. 194
Repair	p. 198
Is linearization represented?	p. 203
Interfacing currents	p. 207
Reprojections	p. 212
Psycholinguistic consequences	p. 215
	p. Conclusions
The Frustrating Equation	p. 222
Dynamical frustration	p. 222
3rd factor considerations	p. 226
Systemic memory	p. 229
A biophysics of language?	p. 233
Parsing birdsongs?	p. 238
A physics for birdsong?	p. 242
Frustration in birdsong patterns?	p. 246
Effective recursion	p. 250
The Transfer Hypothesis	p. 256
Conclusions	p. 262
A Clash Model	p. 263
Taking stock	p. 263
The dual nature of language	p. 266
A formal system	p. 272
Reversing the flow of PF	p. 276
Fibonacci patterns in grammar	p. 280
Predicting the properties of the Merge operation	p. 291
On the periodicity of phases	p. 297
Bottom-up syntax at a higher dimension	p. 303
3rd factor redux	p. 308
Conclusions	p. 310
References	p. 314
Index	p. 343
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