Description
Book SynopsisSymmetrizing Syntax seeks to establish a minimal and natural characterization of the structure of human language (syntax), simplifying many facets of it that have been redundantly or asymmetrically formulated.
Virtually all past theories of natural language syntax, from the traditional X-bar theory to the contemporary system of Merge and labeling, stipulate that every phrase structure is asymmetrically organized, so that one of its elements is always marked as primary/dominant over the others, or each and every phrase is labeled by a designated lexical element. The two authors call this traditional stipulation into question and hypothesize, instead, that linguistic derivations are essentially driven by the need to reduce asymmetry and generate symmetric structures. Various linguistic notions such as Merge, cyclic derivation by phase, feature-checking, morphological agreement, labeling, movement, and criterial freezing, as well as parametric differences among languages
Table of Contents
1 Symmetry of Merge: Why Only Merge? 2 Symmetry of Phases: Cyclic Transfer and Feature-Equilibrium 3 Symmetry of Agreement: Reducing Multiple Agree(ment) Mechanisms into Feature- Equilibrium 4 Symmetry of Labeling: Beyond Chomsky’s Labeling Algorithm and Universal/Unique Labeling Condition 5 Symmetry of Movement: Criteria, Freezing, and Cyclicity 6 Conclusions
