Seeking an optimal design of Search and Merge: its consequences and challenges

Abstract

Abstract We propose that Merge, both External Merge and Internal Merge, is totally free from Minimal Search, and more specifically, Search Σ to determine the input of Merge only obeys Binarity and the Phase Impenetrability Condition but not Minimal Search (the Minimal Search-free Merge Hypothesis). We argue that our proposal provides a unified account of various movement restrictions, such as the freezing effect, the that-trace effect, the anti-locality effect, the vacuous movement hypothesis, and the economy of derivation. We also argue that our proposal derives the insights/consequences of Minimal Yield such as ruling out so-called extensions of Merge by limiting the search space at a later stage of a derivation in terms of Binarity and the PIC. We further expand the empirical and theoretical scope of our proposal by considering exceptions to the freezing effect. We suggest that the exceptions can be dealt with by adopting Form Copy.