A Derivational Approach to Syntactic Relations

A fundamental concept in all syntactic theories is that of a syntactic relation between syntactic objects. While recent work in the Minimalist Framework has attempted to explain the nature of syntactic objects in terms of simple and conceptually necessary assumptions regarding the language faculty, the relations that hold between syntactic objects has not been similarly explored. The authors initiate such an exploration and argue that certain fundamental relations such as c-command, dominance, and checking relations can be explained within a derivational approach to structure-building.This approach has significant consequences concerning the architecture of the syntactic component. Semantic and phonological interpretation need not operate upon the output phrase-structure representation created by the syntactic derivation. Interpretation is more readily computed derivationally, by interpreting the steps of a derivation, rather than the single output structure created by it. The result is a new and controversial level-free model of the syntactic component of the human language faculty. This topical and timely Minimalist analysis will interest professional and theoretical linguists, syntacticians, and anyone interested in contemporary approaches to syntactic theory.

Literature & Fiction

Kitahara, Hisatsugu

Epstein, Samuel David

Groat, Erich M.

Kawashima, Ruriko

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

This book presents a Minimalist analysis of syntactic relations. The authors argue that certain fundamental relations such as c-command, dominance, and checking relations can be explained within a derivational approach to structure-building couched within a new and controversial level-free model of the syntactic component of the human language faculty.

Reference

Language Study & Reference

The author of this text advances Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Programme, with a number of proposals. The analysis is concerned with the elementary operations of the computational system for human language and with the principles of Universal Grammar that constrain derivations generated by that system.

Elementary Operations and Optimal Derivations (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs)

Words, Language & Grammar

Mit Pr

Hisatsugu Kitahara advances Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Program (1995) with a number of innovative proposals.In Elementary Operations and Optimal Derivations, Hisatsugu Kitahara advances Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Program (1995) with a number of innovative proposals. The analysis is primarily concerned with the elementary operations of the computational system for human language and with the principles of Universal Grammar that constrain derivations generated by that system. Many conditions previously assumed to be axiomatic are deduced from the interaction of more fundamental principles of Universal Grammar. Kitahara first unifies disparate syntactic operations by appeal to more elementary operations. He then determines the set of optimal derivations involving only legitimate steps and demonstrates how, without stipulation, these derivations characterize a number of linguistic expressions that have long occupied the center of syntactic investigation. This monograph also includes a clear explication of the distinct but closely related analyses presented in Chomsky's work of the early 1990s. This exposition makes the book attractive to the general linguistic reader as well as the professional syntactician. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 31

MIT Press]

A Minimalist Theory of Simplest Merge (Routledge Leading Linguists)

This collection explicates one of the core ideas underpinning Minimalist theory - explanation via simplification - and its role in shaping some of the latest developments within this framework, specifically the simplest Merge hypothesis and the reduction of syntactic phenomena to third factor considerations.Bringing together recent papers on the topic by Epstein, Kitahara, and Seely, with one by Epstein, Seely and Obata, and one by Kitahara, the book begins with an introduction which situates the papers in a cohesive overview of some of the latest research on Minimalism, as facilitated by current theoretical developments. The volume integrates a historical overview of evolutions in Merge, starting with Chomsky's (pre-Merge) Aspects model up to current theoretical models, including a primer of Chomsky's most recent theory of Merge based on the concept of Workspace. The Minimalist notions of "perfection" and "simplification" are also outlined, providing clearly explicated coverage of key technical concepts within the framework as applied to grammatical phenomena.Taken as a whole, the collection both introduces and advances Minimalist theory for students and scholars in linguistics and related sub-disciplines of psychology, philosophy, and cognitive science, as well as offering new directions for future research for researchers in these fields.

Epstein, Samuel D.

Seely, T. Daniel

Routledge

Merge and the Strong Minimalist Thesis (Elements in Generative Syntax)

The goal of this contribution to the Elements series is to closely examine Merge, its form, its function, and its central role in current linguistic theory. It explores what it does (and does not do), why it has the form it has, and its development over time. The basic idea behind Merge is quite simple. However, Merge interacts, in intricate ways, with other components including the language's interfaces, laws of nature, and certain language-specific conditions. Because of this, and because of its fundamental place in the human faculty of language, this Element's focus on Merge provides insights into the goals and development of generative grammar more generally, and its prospects for the future.

Berwick, Robert C.

CHOMSKY, Noam.

Fong, Sandiway

Huybregts, M. A. C.

McInnerney, Andrew

Sugimoto, Yushi

Cambridge University Press

Explorations in Maximizing Syntactic Minimization (Routledge Leading Linguists)

This volume presents a series of papers written by Epstein, Kitahara and Seely, each of which explores fundamental linguistic questions and analytical mechanisms proposed in recent minimalist work, specifically concerning recent analyses by Noam Chomsky. The collection includes eight papers by the collaborators (one with Miki Obata), plus three additional papers, each individually authored by Epstein, Kitahara and Seely, that cover a range of related topics including: the minimalist commitment to explanation via simplification; the Strong Minimalist Thesis; strict adherence to simplest Merge, Merge (X, Y) = {X, Y}, subject to 3rd factor constraints; and state-of-the-art concepts and consequences of Chomsky’s most recent proposals. For instance, the volume clarifies and explores: the properties of Merge, feature inheritance and Agree; the nature of phases, cyclicity and countercyclicity; the properties of Transfer; the interpretation of features and their values and the role formal features play in the form and function of syntactic operations; and the specific properties of derivations, partially ordered rule application, and the nature of interface representations. At the cutting edge of scholarship in generative syntax, this volume will be an essential resource for syntax researchers seeking to better understand the minimalist program.

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