Ian Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014304
- eISBN:
- 9780262289726
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014304.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This book explores the consequences of Noam Chomsky’s conjecture that head movement is not part of the narrow syntax, the computational system which relates the lexicon to the interfaces. Unlike ...
More
This book explores the consequences of Noam Chomsky’s conjecture that head movement is not part of the narrow syntax, the computational system which relates the lexicon to the interfaces. Unlike other treatments of the subject that discard the concept entirely, it retains the core intuition behind head movement and examines the extent to which it can be reformulated and rethought. The book argues that the current conception of syntax must accommodate a species of head movement, although this operation differs somewhat in technical detail and in empirical coverage from earlier understandings of it. It proposes that head movement is part of the narrow syntax and that it applies where the goal of an Agree relation is defective, in a sense that it defines, contending that the theoretical status of head movement is very similar—in fact identical in various ways—to that of XP-movement. Thus head movement, like XP-movement, should be regarded as part of narrow syntax exactly to the extent that XP movement should be. If one aspect of minimalist theorizing is to eliminate unnecessary distinctions, then the book’s argument can be seen as eliminating the distinction between “heads” and “phrases” in relation to internal merge (and therefore reducing the distinctions currently made between internal and external merge).Less
This book explores the consequences of Noam Chomsky’s conjecture that head movement is not part of the narrow syntax, the computational system which relates the lexicon to the interfaces. Unlike other treatments of the subject that discard the concept entirely, it retains the core intuition behind head movement and examines the extent to which it can be reformulated and rethought. The book argues that the current conception of syntax must accommodate a species of head movement, although this operation differs somewhat in technical detail and in empirical coverage from earlier understandings of it. It proposes that head movement is part of the narrow syntax and that it applies where the goal of an Agree relation is defective, in a sense that it defines, contending that the theoretical status of head movement is very similar—in fact identical in various ways—to that of XP-movement. Thus head movement, like XP-movement, should be regarded as part of narrow syntax exactly to the extent that XP movement should be. If one aspect of minimalist theorizing is to eliminate unnecessary distinctions, then the book’s argument can be seen as eliminating the distinction between “heads” and “phrases” in relation to internal merge (and therefore reducing the distinctions currently made between internal and external merge).
Ian Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014304
- eISBN:
- 9780262289726
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014304.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This book explores the consequences of Noam Chomsky’s theory that head movement is not part of narrow syntax and argues that the current notion of syntax can and must accommodate a species of head ...
More
This book explores the consequences of Noam Chomsky’s theory that head movement is not part of narrow syntax and argues that the current notion of syntax can and must accommodate a species of head movement. More specifically, it suggests that head movement is part of the narrow syntax, and that it applies where the goal of an Agree relation is defective. The book also implies a notion of structural deficiency as the key to understanding the conditions under which internal merge may apply to terminals, and proposes that head movement applies where the goal of an Agree relation is defective. Moreover, it shows that head movement does not differ considerably in its LF-effects from DP-movement (A-movement), considers three possible ways of eliminating head movement from narrow syntax (structure preservation, chain uniformity, and the A-over-A Condition), and describes the movement of simultaneously minimal and maximal categories, focusing on Romance clitics.Less
This book explores the consequences of Noam Chomsky’s theory that head movement is not part of narrow syntax and argues that the current notion of syntax can and must accommodate a species of head movement. More specifically, it suggests that head movement is part of the narrow syntax, and that it applies where the goal of an Agree relation is defective. The book also implies a notion of structural deficiency as the key to understanding the conditions under which internal merge may apply to terminals, and proposes that head movement applies where the goal of an Agree relation is defective. Moreover, it shows that head movement does not differ considerably in its LF-effects from DP-movement (A-movement), considers three possible ways of eliminating head movement from narrow syntax (structure preservation, chain uniformity, and the A-over-A Condition), and describes the movement of simultaneously minimal and maximal categories, focusing on Romance clitics.
