Exploring Crash-Proof Grammars 1
Editorial page 2
Title page 3
LCC data 4
Dedication page 5
Table of contents 7
Preface & acknowledgments 9
List of contributors 11
Exploring Crash-proof grammars 13
1. Introduction 13
2. Defining crash(es) 15
3. Scope and content of this volume 21
Works cited 23
Part I. Applications of crash-proof grammar 25
Computation efficiency and feature inheritance in crash-proof syntax 27
1. Introduction 27
2. Feature inheritance 29
3. Subject-verb agreement 31
4. Subject extraction and Anti-Agreement Effects 32
5. Long distance extraction and agreement 35
6. DONATE, KEEP and SHARE application in crash-proof syntax 38
7. Conclusion 39
Implications of grammatical gender for the theory of uninterpretable features 43
1. Introduction 43
1.1 Theoretical overview 43
1.2 Structure of the paper 47
2. Gender and interpretability 47
2.1 Romance gender 47
2.2 Bantu noun class 50
3. Gender agreement in Bantu and Romance 53
4. Why Bantu agreement is independent of case 57
4.1 The proposal: Gender is never deactivated 57
4.2 Against an Agree-with-Agreement approach; support from semitic 59
5. Activity: A closer look 62
5.1 Strengthening the Activity Requirement 62
6. A problem for Feature Inheritance 63
7. Deriving Goal Deactivation 64
8. Conclusion 66
References 67
The Empty Left Edge Condition (ELEC) 71
1. Introduction 71
2. A uniform approach to null-arguments 76
3. Germanic argument drop and the ELEC 81
4. More cases of left edge sensitive argument drop 86
5. The emptiness conditions are operative in PF 90
6. Concluding remarks 93
References 96
Part II. The crash-proof debate 99
Grammaticality, interfaces, and UG 101
1. Linguistics as the study of I-language 101
2. Acceptability and grammaticality 103
3. Selection and structure-building 106
4. Prospects for an unprincipled syntax 112
A tale of two minimalisms 117
1. Introductory remarks 117
2. The distinguishing feature between the two minimalisms 118
2.1 The crash-proof route 118
2.2 The alternative route 120
2.3 A concise comparison, and why Merge 伪 has an edge 121
3. On Agree 123
4. Conclusion 131
Uninterpretable features 137
1. Unclarities regarding the distinction between crash vs. convergent gibberish 137
2. A pervasive empirical problem for the valuation-transfer analysis 140
3. Designing a perfect system \u201cprimarily\u201d for CI and \u201csecondarily\u201d for SM 144
4. A crash-proof system and a remaining question 151
References 153
Syntactic relations in Survive-minimalism 155
1. Introduction 155
2. \u201cPhrase structure rules\u201d a la the Survive Principle 160
3. Theta Roles in Survive-minimalism 171
4. Cleaning-up crashes 172
5. Consequences and conclusions 174
References 175
Toward a strongly derivational syntax 179
1. Introduction 179
2. Labeling and First Merge 181
2.1 C-selection is not feature checking 182
2.2 C-selection has no role in labeling 185
2.3 Labeling at First Merge: Agree 187
2.4 Collins\u2019 Locus and First Merge 191
2.5 Crash-proof derivation vs. immediate filtering 193
3. The issues facing First and Second Merge 195
4. Toward a strongly derivational syntax 200
4.1 Eliminating the First Merge/Second Merge dichotomy 200
4.2 Eliminating First Merge 201
4.3 A)symmetry in narrow syntax and at the interfaces 202
4.4 Eliminating Merge 205
4.5 Consequences of Eliminating Merge 209
4.6 Transfer and feature checking 211
4.7 Complex specifiers 214
5. Concluding remarks 218
On the mathematical foundations of crash-proof grammars 225
1. Rainbow, language, theory 225
2. The concept of crash-proof syntax 230
3. Mechanisms of crash-proof syntax 231
4. Elements, contexts, and formal Systems 235
5. Peano\u2019s axioms 236
6. The language-number correspondence 240
7. Conclusions 250
Crash-proof syntax and filters 257
1. Introduction 257
2. OT-syntax as a theory of filters 258
3. Crash-proof syntax does not void the need for filters 262
3.1 Movement 262
3.2 Negative sentences 269
3.3 Other differences 272
3.4 The universal generator 273
3.5 Conclusions 274
4. Why developing a crash-proof syntax may be desirable 275
5. Conclusion 277
References 278
Crash-free syntax and crash phenomena in model-theoretic grammar 281
1. Introduction 281
2. Grammar as system of declarative constraints rather than a system of production operations 283
3. When derivations crash (in performance) 287
4. Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar 289
5. Conclusion 305
References 305
Index 311
the Language Faculty and Beyond series 315