Specifier

Abstract: This work is the culmination of an eighteen-year collaboration between Ken Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser on the study of the syntax of lexical items. It examines the hypothesis that the behavior of lexical items may be explained in terms of a very small number of very simple principles. In particular, a lexical item is assumed to project a syntactic configuration defined over just two relations, complement and specifier, where these configurations are constrained to preclude iteration and to permit only binary branching. The work examines this hypothesis by methodically looking at a variety of constructions in English and other languages.

Abstract: Preface and Acknowledgments Part 1: Preliminaries: 1 Generative Grammar 0 Preliminaries 1 Syntax as a Cognitive Science 2 Modeling Syntax 3 Syntax as Science - the Scientific Method An Example of the Scientific Method as Applied to Syntax Sources of Data 4 Where do the Rules Come From? Learning vs Acquisition Innateness: Language as an Instinct The Logical Problem of Language Acquisition Other Arguments for UG Explaining Language Variation 5 Choosing among Theories about Syntax 6 The Scientific Method and the Structure of this Textbook 7 Summary Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 2 Parts of Speech 0 Words and Why They Matter to Syntax 1 Determining Part of Speech The Problem of Traditional Definitions Distributional Criteria 2 The Major Parts of Speech: N, V, Adj, and Adv Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs 3 Open vs Closed Lexical vs Functional Open vs Closed Parts of Speech Lexical vs Functional Some Functional (Closed) Categories of English Summary 4 Subcategories and Features Subcategories of Nouns Subcategories of Verbs 5 Summary Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 3 Constituency, Trees, and Rules 0 Introduction 1 Rules and Trees Noun Phrases (NPs) Adjective Phrases (AdjPs) and Adverb Phrases (AdvPs) Prepositional Phrases (PPs) Verb Phrases (VPs) Clauses Summary 2 How to Draw a Tree Bottom-up Trees The Top-down Method of Drawing Trees Bracketed Diagrams 3 Modification and Ambiguity 4 Constituency Tests 5 Summary and Conclusion Appendix: How to do Foreign Language PSR Problems A1 Doing problems with word-by-word glosses A2 Doing problems without word-by-word glosses Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 4 Structural Relations 0 Introduction 1 The Parts of a Tree 2 Domination Domination Exhaustive Domination Immediate Domination 3 Precedence 4 C-command 5 Grammatical Relations 6 Summary and Conclusions Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 5 Binding Theory 0 Introduction 1 The Notions Coindex and Antecedent 2 Binding 3 Locality Conditions on the Binding of Anaphors 4 The Distribution of Pronouns 5 The Distribution of R-expressions 6 Conclusion Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets Part 2: The Base: 6 X-bar Theory 0 Introduction 1 Bar-level Projections V-bar Adj-bar and Adv-bar P-bar 2 Generalizing the Rules: The X-bar Schema 3 Complements, Adjuncts, and Specifiers Complements and Adjuncts in NPs Complements and Adjuncts in VPs, AdjPs, AdvPs, and PPs The Notion Specifier 4 Some Definitional Housekeeping 5 Parameters of Word Order 6 Drawing Trees in X-bar Notation Important Considerations in Tree Drawing A Sample Tree 7 X-bar Theory: A Summary Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 7 Extending X-bar Theory to Functional Categories 0 Introduction 1 Determiner Phrases (DPs) 2 A Descriptive Tangent into Clause Types 3 Complementizer Phrases (CPs) 4 Tense Phrases (TPs) 5 CP, TP, DP tree Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 8 Constraining X-bar Theory: The Lexicon 0 Introduction 1 Some Basic Terminology 2 Thematic Relations and Theta Roles 3 The Lexicon 4 Expletives and the Extended Projection Principle 5 Summary Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets Part 3: Movement: 9 Head-to-Head Movement 0 Introduction 1 Verb Movement (V -> T) French Irish 2 T Movement (T -> C) 3 Do-support 4 Multiple Auxiliaries and Affix-hopping in English Multiple Auxiliaries Affix-hopping 5 Summary Appendix: Tests for Determining if a Language has V -> T or Affix Lowering Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 10 DP Movement 0 Introduction 1 A Puzzle for the Theory of Theta Roles 2 Passives 3 Case 4 Raising: Reprise 5 Passives: Reprise 6 Closing Up a Loose End 7 Conclusion Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 11 Wh-movement 0 Introduction 1 Movement in Wh-questions 2 Islands 3 The Minimal Link Condition Wh-islands and the Minimal Link Condition The MLC in DP Movement and Head Movement 4 Echo Questions (Wh-in-situ) in English 5 Conclusion Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 12 A Unified Theory of Movement 0 Introduction 1 Move 2 Explaining Cross-linguistic Differences 3 Scope, Covert Movement, and The MLC MLC Effects in Wh-in-situ Languages English Quantifiers and Scope 4 Conclusion Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets Part 4: Advanced Topics: 13 Expanded VPs 0 Introduction 1 The Problem of Ditransitive Verbs 2 Light Verbs 3 Object Shift 4 Ditransitives: Reprise Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 14 Raising, Control, and Empty Categories 0 Introduction 1 Raising vs Control Two Kinds of Theta Grids for Main Predicates Distinguishing Raising from Control What is PRO? 2 Two Kinds of Raising, Two Kinds of Control Two Kinds of Raising Two Kinds of Control Summary of Predicate Types 3 Control Theory 4 Another Kind of Null Subject: "Little" pro 5 Summary Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets 15 Advanced Topics in Binding Theory 0 A Quick Review of Chapter 5 Binding Theory 1 Levels of Representation 2 The Definition of Binding Domain A Miscellany of Domain Violations Anaphors Pronouns Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Sets Challenge Problem Sets Part 5: Alternatives: 16 Lexical-Functional Grammar 0 Alternative Theories 1 C-structure 2 Functions 3 The Lexicon 4 F-structure Why F-structures? 5 Assorted Phenomena Head Mobility Passives Raising and Control Wh-movement: Long Distance Dependencies 6 Conclusion Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Set Challenge Problem Sets 17 Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar 0 Introduction 1 Features 2 The Lexicon 3 Rules, Features, and Trees 4 Binding 5 Long Distance Dependencies Ideas Introduced in this Chapter Further Reading General Problem Set Challenge Problem Sets Conclusions and Directions for Further Study References Index

Abstract: This thesis studies movement operations in natural languages. It is observed that certain heads – C° , v°, and, in most languages, P° – cannot be stranded; the complements of these heads never move without pied-piping the heads in question. This is surprising since (a) extraction out of CP, vP, and PP is possible in principle and (b) the complement categories of these heads, TP, VP, and DP or PP, are movable. Evidence for the more contentious of these claims is provided in chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 4 also investigates the ramifications of these facts for theories of adposition stranding. All heads in question have independently been argued to project what Chomsky (2000) calls ‘phases’. The generalization is that phase heads cannot be stranded. Chapter 2 derives the ban against stranding phase heads within a derivational model of the grammar. The effect of phases on successive cyclicity is the following: To be licit, movement out of a phase must pass through the specifier position of that phase. The idea of the account is that every step of movement must establish a relation between the moved item and some other element in the phrase marker which is in a well-defined sense closer than the relation they were in prior to movement. Movement from complement to specifier position within the same phrase never achieves this. In fact, any movement within the same phrase is in effect too short to achieve this. There are then well-defined anti-locality effects, which fallout from considerations of local economy. The ban against stranding phase heads now follows. A category can leave its containing phase only by passing through its specifier position. Since complements cannot reach the specifier position in the same phrase, the complements of phase heads cannot move away. Head Movement is prohibited by the same economy based reasoning. Chapter 5 focuses on Head Movement, advocating a version of Brody’s (2000) Mirror Theory. In contrast to standard theories of Head Movement, Mirror Theory predicts what looks like downward Head Movement to be possible. Data from VP-ellipsis in English show that this prediction of Mirror Theory is correct.