Wh-Movement and the Theory of Feature-Checking
Wh-Movement and the Theory of Feature-Checking

Author: Andrew Simpson

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2000-06-16

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9027298440

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Wh-movement and the theory of feature-checking argues that cross-linguistic variation in wh-constructions reduces to the availability of different lexical instantiations of a +wh C0 both across languages and within a single language, and the way in which such lexical elements are syntactically identified, either via movement or base-generation. Evidence from a wide range of patterns including wh-expletive questions leads to the conclusion that wh-feature checking may sometimes be effected non-locally and ‘at a distance’ (long-distance wh-agreement), and that movement in general takes place for two related but discrete reasons: both to identify and activate an underspecified licensing head and in order for an element to occur in the checking domain projected by its relevant licensing head. Developing and generalizing the proposals beyond wh-phenomena, the study also goes on to argue for a Minimalist model of syntax in which feature-dependencies are in fact all licensed in the overt syntax and where there is no need for any further level of LF.

Wh-movement and the Theory of Feature-checking
Wh-movement and the Theory of Feature-checking

Author: Andrew Simpson

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9789027225627

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Wh-movement and the theory of feature-checking argues that cross-linguistic variation in wh-constructions reduces to the availability of different lexical instantiations of a +wh C0 both across languages and within a single language, and the way in which such lexical elements are syntactically identified, either via movement or base-generation. Evidence from a wide range of patterns including wh-expletive questions leads to the conclusion that wh-feature checking may sometimes be effected non-locally and 'at a distance' (long-distance wh-agreement), and that movement in general takes place for two related but discrete reasons: both to identify and activate an underspecified licensing head and in order for an element to occur in the checking domain projected by its relevant licensing head. Developing and generalizing the proposals beyond wh-phenomena, the study also goes on to argue for a Minimalist model of syntax in which feature-dependencies are in fact all licensed in the overt syntax and where there is no need for any further level of LF.

Wh-scope Marking
Wh-scope Marking

Author: Uli Lutz

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 9027227586

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This volume deals with what the WH-movement parameter has to say about varieties of WH-dependencies in different languages. Section two introduces WH-scope marking and the related concept of partial WH-movement. Section three, the main approaches to WH-scope marking are introduced.

Multiple Wh-Fronting
Multiple Wh-Fronting

Author: Cedric Boeckx

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2003-08-21

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9027296464

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Typological differences in the formation of multiple Wh-questions are well-known. One option is fronting all Wh-phrases to the sentence periphery. The contributions to this volume all explore this option from a number of perspectives. Topics covered include finer investigations of the “classic” multiple Wh-fronting languages (such as the South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian), extensions to less well studied languages (Basque, Malagasy, Persian, Yiddish), explorations for languages that don’t obviously fall into this category (German, Hungarian), peripheral effects (optionality of fronting, Superiority vs. Anti-Superiority etc.), interface issues (with semantics, pragmatics, and phonology), and simply theoretical approaches aiming to capture the mechanisms involved in multiple Wh-fronting strategies. The theoretical framework adopted throughout is the Minimalist Program, viewed from different angles. This volume brings together some of the leading experts on the syntax of Wh-questions and offers up-to-date analyses of the topic. It will be indispensable for scholars investigating multiple Wh-questions, and will find an appropriate audience in advanced students and faculty alike.

The Copy Theory of Movement
The Copy Theory of Movement

Author: Norbert Corver

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2007-06-27

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9027292302

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This volume brings together papers which address issues regarding the copy theory of movement. According to this theory, a trace is a copy of the moved element that is deleted in the phonological component but is available for interpretation at L(ogical) F(orm). Thus far, the bulk of the research on the copy theory has mainly focused on interpretation issues at LF. The consequences of the copy theory for syntactic computation per se and for the syntax–phonology mapping, in particular, have received much less attention in the literature, despite its crucial relevance for the whole architecture of the model. As a contribution to fill this gap, this volume congregates recent work that deals with empirical and conceptual consequences of the copy theory of movement for the inner working of syntactic computations within the Minimalist Program, with special emphasis on the syntax–phonology mapping.

A-bar Syntax
A-bar Syntax

Author: Gereon Müller

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2012-10-25

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 3110814285

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The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon.

The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax
The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax

Author: Marcel den Dikken

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-07-25

Total Pages: 1412

ISBN-13: 1107354587

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Syntax – the study of sentence structure – has been at the centre of generative linguistics from its inception and has developed rapidly and in various directions. The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax provides a historical context for what is happening in the field of generative syntax today, a survey of the various generative approaches to syntactic structure available in the literature and an overview of the state of the art in the principal modules of the theory and the interfaces with semantics, phonology, information structure and sentence processing, as well as linguistic variation and language acquisition. This indispensable resource for advanced students, professional linguists (generative and non-generative alike) and scholars in related fields of inquiry presents a comprehensive survey of the field of generative syntactic research in all its variety, written by leading experts and providing a proper sense of the range of syntactic theories calling themselves generative.

Korean Syntax and Semantics
Korean Syntax and Semantics

Author: EunHee Lee

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-01-10

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1108417191

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Explores the Korean language from both a syntactic and semantic perspective, combining mainstream ideas from minimalist syntax and formal semantics.

Contemporary Linguistic Parameters
Contemporary Linguistic Parameters

Author: Antonio Fabregas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1472532716

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Parameters have lain at the core of linguistic research in the generative tradition for decades. The theoretical questions they have raised are deep and broad: this reference text investigates how contemporary linguistics has best tried to answer them. This book looks at how parameters might be properly defined and what their locus might be :lexical information, functional heads, the computational system, the phonological branch of the grammar. What kind of data forms trigger acquisition of a parameter? Are parameters necessary or can we study languages without making reference to them? The questions looked at are not just theoretical: how can a theory of parameters be used to help understand second language acquisition, and what contributions can it make to the study of language typology? This is the right time to gather all this information, dispersed in many different kinds of publications by single authors and groups, into one comprehensive volume.

Phrasal and Clausal Architecture
Phrasal and Clausal Architecture

Author: Simin Karimi

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2007-02-21

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9027292922

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The present collection includes papers that address a wide range of syntactic phenomena. In some, the authors discuss such major syntactic properties as clausal architecture, syntactic labels and derivation, and the nature of features and their role with respect to movement, agreement, and event-related constructions. In addition, several papers offer syntax-based discussions of aspects of acquisition, pedagogy, and neurolinguistics, addressing issues related to case marking, negation, thematic relations, and more. Several papers report on new findings relevant to less commonly investigated languages, and all provide valuable observations related to natural language syntactic properties, many of which are universal in their implications. The authors challenge several aspects of recent syntactic theory, broaden the applicable scope of others, and introduce important and provocative analyses that bear on current issues in linguistics.