Minimal Link Condition Research Articles

Late Adjunction and Minimalist Phrase Structure

An algorithm of phrase structure building is proposed within the bare phrase structure framework. The algorithm is rooted in the idea that applications of Merge–the operation that combines syntactic objects–should not change the set of basic relations (in particular, c‐command) in the existing structure, what Chomsky (2000) terms “Least Tampering.” Under the proposed algorithm, this idea translates into a requirement that Merger must take place at the root of the tree/phrase marker when possible. As a result, the algorithm forces (base‐generated or moved) structural adjuncts to be Merged postcyclically. Three empirical consequences of the proposed algorithm are discussed: (1) constructions involving raising across the experiencer (e.g., John seems to Mary to be smart) are shown not to be problematic for the Minimal Link Condition (cf. Chomsky 1995b); (2) a novel account of Adjunct Island effects (Huang 1982) is proposed; and (3) a principled analysis of approximative inversion in Russian is offered.

Features, θ-Roles, and Free Constituent Order

This article proposes a new base generation account of free constituent order. Scrambling as movement is incompatible with central assumptions of the Minimalist Program:it cannot involve the checking of strong categorial features. Concentrating on German, the article refutes the standard empirical arguments for scrambling and shows that free constituent order is a base-generated phenomenon. The article proposes that °-role assignment is a by-product of checking the formal features of arguments. When checking features are strong, word order is fixed; when checking features are weak, free constituent order arises owing to a relativized interpretation of the Minimal Link Condition.

ON^|^ldquo;MINIMAL LINK CONDITION EFFECTS^|^rdquo;

In this paper, we explore the possibility of dispensing with the MLC (Minimal Link Condition) in syntax within the current framework of the minimalist program. We propose the MMC (Maximal Matching Condition) and the Earliness principle, and claim that apparent“MLC Effects” are in fact epiphenomena of the proposed system. Evidence in favor of the proposed system comes from acceptable instances of long-distance DP-movement in English, Georgian, and Niuean. We also argue that in multiple wh-questions, any wh-movement is syntactically ruled in and that the (un)acceptability of the sentences is determined by the constraint for the functional interpretation of wh-phrases.

A minimalist theory of A-movement and control

Abstract In this article, we point out some problems in the theory of A-movement and control within Principles and Parameters models, and specifically within the minimalist approach of Chomsky (1995). In order to overcome these problems, we motivate a departure from the standard transformational theory of A-movement. In particular, we argue that DPs are merged in the position where they surface, and from there they attract (an aspectual feature of) a predicate. On this basis, control can simply be construed as the special case in which the same DP attracts more than one predicate. Arbitrary control reduces to the attraction of a predicate by an operator in C. We show that the basic locality properties of control follow from an appropriate Scopal version of Chomsky's (1995) Minimal Link Condition and from Kayne's (1984) Connectedness, phrased as conditions on the Attract operation. Our approach has considerable advantages in standard cases of A-movement as well, deriving the distribution of reconstruction effects at LF as well as the blocking effects on phonosyntactic rules at PF.

Cyclic Computation, A Computationally Efficient Minimalist Syntax

We construct a completely cyclic Minimalist theory of syntactic derivations. A derivation consists of a sequence of cycles. Each cycle starts with the introduction of a new head and merger of the head's selected arguments, followed by satisfaction (via checking) of the head's removable features. The theory includes no acyclic devices such as lexical arrays or comparison of derivations. Satisfaction of features is accompanied by full category movement whenever it is not blocked by morphology or constraints barring multiple specifiers. The Minimal Link Condition is viewed computationally and is naturally incorporated into Satisfy. Our precise notion of checking involves sets of features interacting in the same checking relation, and yields an account of successive cyclic movement, the distribution of expletives, EPP, and quirky case phenomena. The paper can be read as empirical evidence that the core syntactic algorithm is computationally efficient.

ON SENTENTIAL NEGATION AND THE LICENSING OF NEGATIVE POLARITY ITEMS IN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE: A MINIMALIST APPROACH

This paper is concerned with the syntax of negative sentences and negative polarity items (NPIs) in English and Japanese and argues for the validity of a feature-checking analysis in the framework of Chomsky (1995). It is demonstrated that the feature-checking analysis based on feature specification on Neg and NPIs can present a unified view of negative sentences and that different distributions of NPIs naturally follow from it. At the same time, it is argued that negative sentences suggest a locality condition supplementary to the Minimal Link Condition in Chomsky (1995), in support of Manzini (1998). This locality condition is incorporated into the analysis as the NEG-Convention.

Locality theory: Competing models of weak islands

This paper explores two questions, related to Chomsky's (1981) ECP, under which traces must have a proper government relation either to a head, or to an antecedent. The first question concerns the definition of proper head government. Section 1 argues that at least Rizzi's (1990) and Cinque's (1991) referential indices can be dispensed with once the LF syntax of wh-constructions is properly understood. The second question concerns the definition of antecedent government. Section 2 shows that antecedent based conceptions of locality, such as Rizzi's (1990) Relativized Minimality (cf. Chomsky's 1995 Minimal Link Condition) and non-antecedent based notions, such Chomsky's (1986a) (rigid) Minimality, can be equivalent, at least for phrasal movement, given appropriate assumptions

Syntactic QR in wh-in-situ languages

Japanese is gererally recognized as a language in which there is no observable wh-movement. In this paper, it will be shown that there are two types of wh-elements: one identifiable as wh-operators and the other as non-quantificational variables. I claim that focus phrases and wh-operators undergo syntactic movement to a position that appears immediately above VP. This position is associated with a phrasal category, which I label Focus Projection (FocP). This paper discusses peculiar ordering restrictions in multiple questions in Japanese, as observed by Saito (1987, 1994) and Watanabe (1992). Given that operators undergo syntactic movement, I will provide a unified account for the ordering restrictions in relation to the Minimal Link Condition, as outlined by Chomsky (1992, 1995) and Chomsky and Lasnik (1993).

Superiority Effects and Minimal Link Condition

Superiority Effects and Minimal Link Condition