A Derivational Approach to Syntactic Relations

by Samuel David Epstein, Erich M. Groat, Ruriko Kawashima, Hisatsugu Kitahara

Overview

This book presents a Minimalist analysis of syntactic relations. The authors argue that certain fundamental relations such as c-command, dominance, and checking relations can be explained within a derivational approach to structure-building couched within a new and controversial level-free model of the syntactic component of the human language faculty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195111156
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/15/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1440L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
1.	The Derivation of Syntactic Relations	16
2.	A Derivational Application of Interpretive Procedures	46
3.	Derivational Sisterhood	84
4.	Minimize Sisters and Constraints on Structure Building	111
5.	The LCA, Cyclicity, Trace Theory and the Head Parameter	139
6.	On Derivationality	161
	Bibliography	181
	Index	189

Editorial Reviews

"This study develops a bold and intriguing hypothesis about the nature of language that reduces a wide range of empirical phenomena to a restrictive notion of pure derivation, with intriguing and highly suggestive results. It marks an important step forward in the recent efforts to show that conceptually natural principles of great generality carry us far in understanding the apparent complexity and diversity of human languages.—Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

From the Publisher