On the Deduction of theEPPfrom Labeling*

Abstract

AbstractThe present paper examines a recent attempt to deduce the EPP from labeling. Chomsky (2015) argues that the EPP is reducible to Label Weakness. In this paper, I first point out that Label Weakness raises problems that are not faced under the EPP. I then propose that pair‐Merge (i.e. the Merge that yields an asymmetric structure) provides a solution to Label Weakness, claiming that Merge, together with Label Weakness, explains the EPP. I show that the proposal brings theoretically and empirically favorable consequences. Given the proposed analysis, I also argue that externalization is the other side of the EPP, demonstrating that it explains the EPP when a labeling problem is solved and that it reduces parametric variations with the EPP to the peripheries of the computation. This paper argues that Merge plays a key role in language and endorses the Merge‐based language design proposed in the Minimalist Program.