Understanding Minimalist Syntax

Cedric Boeckx is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and a member of the Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard University. He is the author of Islands and Chains (2003), Linguistic Minimalism (2006), and numerous articles in journals such as Linguistic Inquiry and Natural Language and Linguistic Theory.

“In the space of just 150 pages Boeckx provides an accessible and assured introduction to minimalism; a terrific critical review of the evidence for cyclic movement; a sympathetic yet powerful critique of phase theory; and a new approach to the cycle based on an intuitively natural version of Least Effort. This really is a tour de force and can be read profitably by expert and neophyte alike.”Norbert Hornstein, University of Maryland“The book investigates the venerable topic of successive cyclic movement in order to shed light on the nature of the minimalist program. It is a truly impressive achievement which draws important conclusions regarding the most fundamental issues of the minimalist program and puts back the phenomenon of successive cyclic movement in the center of syntactic theorizing. It should have a strong impact on the field.”Željko Bošković, University of Connecticut “This is a concise study of how locality and anti-locality effects can be handled within minimalism: it is up-to-date, thought-provoking and full of insightful and original ideas – ideal for use as a ‘specialist topic’ on an advanced syntax course.”Andrew Radford, University of Essex

• Acknowledgments xi1 Introductory Remarks 11.1 The Framework 11.2 Outline of the Book: Goals and Structure 42 The Marks of Successive Cyclicity (The What-Question) 92.1 Subjacency and the Emergence of Successive Cyclicity 92.2 The Evidence 112.2.1 Syntax 112.2.2 Morphology 142.2.3 Phonology 222.2.4 Semantics 232.2.5 Morpho-syntactic evidence from overtly stranded pieces 262.3 A-movement 292.4 Conclusion 343 The Distribution of Intermediate Landing Sites (The Where-Question) 393.1 Punctuated vs. Uniform Paths 403.2 The Difficulties Faced by Punctuated Path Hypotheses 433.2.1 Phases: an overview 443.2.2 Conceptual arguments for phases 463.2.3 Arguments against phases 483.2.4 Old problems for phases 503.2.5 No empirical argument for phases 543.3 Conclusion 614 The Timing of Intermediate Steps of Movement (The When-Question) 644.1 Early vs. Late Successive Cyclicity 644.2 Takahashi (1994) 664.3 The Evidence for Early Successive Cyclic Movement 704.3.1 Background information on applicatives 714.3.2 The need for early successive cyclic movement 764.4 Potential Arguments for Late Successive Cyclic Movement 804.4.1 Sub-extraction out of a moved element 804.4.2 Intervening traces 824.4.3 Object agreement 834.5 Conclusion 865 The Motivation for Intermediate Movement Steps (The Why-Question) 905.1 Last Resort 905.2 Problematic Cases 915.2.1 Concord 915.2.2 Successive cyclicity 925.3 Anti-locality 1015.4 Anti-locality and Successive Cyclicity 1065.5 Anti-locality and Last Resort 1105.6 The Why-Question 1135.7 Conclusion 1176 Alternative Views on Successive Cyclicity 1196.1 TAG-based Accounts 1196.2 An Agreement-based Account 1256.3 Prolific Domains 1296.4 Greed-based Approaches 1296.5 Conclusion 1327 Successive Cyclicity and Other Aspects of Locality 1337.1 The Standard View on Islands 1347.2 Puzzles for the Standard View 1367.2.1 Movement, freezing, and escape hatch 1367.2.2 Island by default? 1377.2.3 Island-obviation 1377.3 Ross’s View 1457.4 Agreement and Islandhood 1457.5 Conclusion 1488 Concluding Remarks 150References 152Index 167