Elements in Generative Syntax – serie

This Elements presents the major findings and theoretical advances in the area of Control. We describe the different types of control (complement, adjunct, obligatory, nonobligatory) and illustrate their profiles in several languages. It is shown that while certain features of Obligatory Control (OC) are common - nullness of PRO, nonfinite complements - they are not universal, hence should not enter its core definition. Comparing approaches to the choice of controller based on lexical meaning postulates with those based on embedding of speech acts, we conclude that the latter provide deeper insights into the core properties of OC. The fundamental semantic distinction between clauses denoting a property and those denoting a proposition proves to be important: It affects both the possibility of Partial Control in complements and the possibility of Non Obligatory Control in adjuncts. These insights are integrated in the Two-Tiered Theory of Control, laid out in the final sections.

In a coordination construction, which is universally available, two or more syntactic constituents are combined, with or without an overt coordinator. This Element examines how coordinate structures are derived syntactically, focussing on the syntactic operations involved, including constraints on both their operations and the representations they produce. Specifically, considering the recent research development in the syntax of coordination, the Element discusses whether any special syntactic operation is required to derive various coordinate constructions, including constructions in which each conjunct has a gap, whether there is any special functional category heading coordinate constructions in general, what the morphosyntactic statuses of coordinators (i.e., conjunctions and disjunctions) are in some specific languages, whether the structure of a coordinate construction can be beyond the binary complementation structure, and whether the mobility of conjuncts and the mobility of elements in conjuncts require any construction-specific constraint on syntactic operations.

Movement is a core property of human language which has been a major focus of study since the inception of the generative enterprise. This Element is concerned with the syntactic movement of heads. On the basis of data from an array of languages, it demonstrates that there are two types of syntactic head movement, describes their properties, and develops a unified theory of both types in terms of the structure building operation Merge. One of the two types of head movement (essentially "long head movement") falls out within a minimalist approach to syntactic structure building once it is recognized that in this framework there is no principled distinction between heads and phrases. The other type of head movement (essentially "head-to-head substitution") also falls out under a certain set of assumptions about labeling/projection and the nature of lexical items.

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.

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.

In a coordination construction, which is universally available, two or more syntactic constituents are combined, with or without an overt coordinator. This Element examines how coordinate structures are derived syntactically, focussing on the syntactic operations involved, including constraints on both their operations and the representations they produce. Specifically, considering the recent research development in the syntax of coordination, the Element discusses whether any special syntactic operation is required to derive various coordinate constructions, including constructions in which each conjunct has a gap, whether there is any special functional category heading coordinate constructions in general, what the morphosyntactic statuses of coordinators (i.e., conjunctions and disjunctions) are in some specific languages, whether the structure of a coordinate construction can be beyond the binary complementation structure, and whether the mobility of conjuncts and the mobility of elements in conjuncts require any construction-specific constraint on syntactic operations.

Case characterizes distribution of nominals within a sentence (abstract Case), which can be reflected in morphological marking on nominals (morphological case). A related phenomenon of agreement characterizes a structural relation between a nominal and a functional category, which is morphologically manifested on the functional category. This Element examines how Case/case and agreement phenomena are derived, focusing on the syntactic operations involved. The Element discusses the types of morphological case, as well as the concept of abstract Case, starting with the seminal works of Vergnaud and Chomsky, followed by the theories of unification of Case/case and agreement, specifically the Spec-Head configuration and the operation Agree. Demonstrating empirical shortcomings of such unification, alternative approaches are considered (Dependent Case Theory and morphological approaches to agreement), illustrating their empirical and conceptual challenges. Ultimately, the Element sketches a theory of Case/case and agreement using independently motivated concepts of copy interpretation and labeling.

Case characterizes distribution of nominals within a sentence (abstract Case), which can be reflected in morphological marking on nominals (morphological case). A related phenomenon of agreement characterizes a structural relation between a nominal and a functional category, which is morphologically manifested on the functional category. This Element examines how Case/case and agreement phenomena are derived, focusing on the syntactic operations involved. The Element discusses the types of morphological case, as well as the concept of abstract Case, starting with the seminal works of Vergnaud and Chomsky, followed by the theories of unification of Case/case and agreement, specifically the Spec-Head configuration and the operation Agree. Demonstrating empirical shortcomings of such unification, alternative approaches are considered (Dependent Case Theory and morphological approaches to agreement), illustrating their empirical and conceptual challenges. Ultimately, the Element sketches a theory of Case/case and agreement using independently motivated concepts of copy interpretation and labeling.

This Elements presents the major findings and theoretical advances in the area of Control. We describe the different types of control (complement, adjunct, obligatory, nonobligatory) and illustrate their profiles in several languages. It is shown that while certain features of Obligatory Control (OC) are common - nullness of PRO, nonfinite complements - they are not universal, hence should not enter its core definition. Comparing approaches to the choice of controller based on lexical meaning postulates with those based on embedding of speech acts, we conclude that the latter provide deeper insights into the core properties of OC. The fundamental semantic distinction between clauses denoting a property and those denoting a proposition proves to be important: It affects both the possibility of Partial Control in complements and the possibility of Non Obligatory Control in adjuncts. These insights are integrated in the Two-Tiered Theory of Control, laid out in the final sections.

This Element evaluates the current theory for categorizing syntactic objects, including some of its main findings. It starts with categorization within the lexicon, where the categories of lexical items form the basis for categorization of phrases that contain them. In current theorizing the identification of a category label for a given syntactic object is distinct from the operation that generates compositional structure, the binary, set-forming operation Merge - thus allowing each to be maximally simple. This Element established how the efficient search for and identification of a label is required for the interpretation of a syntactic object at the cognitive interfaces that process both phonetic form and meaning. It shows how the approach works for simple cases and how it extends to more complex ones in a step-by-step fashion, drawing on phenomena from several languages, providing insightful and surprising analyses.

This Element evaluates the current theory for categorizing syntactic objects, including some of its main findings. It starts with categorization within the lexicon, where the categories of lexical items form the basis for categorization of phrases that contain them. In current theorizing the identification of a category label for a given syntactic object is distinct from the operation that generates compositional structure, the binary, set-forming operation Merge - thus allowing each to be maximally simple. This Element established how the efficient search for and identification of a label is required for the interpretation of a syntactic object at the cognitive interfaces that process both phonetic form and meaning. It shows how the approach works for simple cases and how it extends to more complex ones in a step-by-step fashion, drawing on phenomena from several languages, providing insightful and surprising analyses.