Abstract
This paper investigates the relevance of some syntactic principles in Generative Grammar. Specifically, the objective is to highlight the conflict between economy and uniformity in syntactic theory. This conflict is illustrated by some elements of wh-questions. Using the Minimalist Program as a current syntactic ‘approach’, we take MA wh-elements as a case study to test the relationship between the two principles. We, first, survey the importance of economy in the language itself. Second, we bring examples of the conflict in wh-interrogatives, specifically in wh-subjects, wh-objects, yes-no questions, and the [Q] feature. The significance of the research is that, in the absence of empirical evidence for uniformity, economy should be prioritized.
Highlights
The Conflict between Economy and Uniformity: The Case of Wh-Questions This section will sketch the relationship between economy and uniformity
There is an apparent clash between the two principles of economy and uniformity. With all of these taken into account, we propose that when the wh-subject appears with the complementizer, uniformity overrides economy
Whether the yes-no particle is base generated in C or [Spec, CP] is a classic problem of the clash between economy and uniformity
Summary
The [Q] feature shows that the sentence is interrogative while the [WH] feature shows the existence of a wh-question This means that wh-elements do not have the [Q] feature in the lexicon but arrive at the computational system when needed to express the interrogativity of the sentence. This means that the [WH] feature is the inherent one. In the case of (22), does that mean each wh-element has its own [Q] feature to interpret the sentence as interrogative? One wh-question moves to the left periphery while the other remains in-situ In this case, neither economy nor uniformity work in MA multiple wh-construction. If there is empirical evidence for selecting uniformity, it overrides economy; otherwise, economy should be prioritized
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