Two Abstracts for: The Cambridge Handbook of the Minimalist Program (forthcoming, Grohmann and Leivada eds.)

I am very proud of both of these little squibs, which are both foundational. Erich Groat and Daniel Seely are two of the deepest thinkers about the foundations of minimalist syntax out there, and I am honored to have been able to work with them. Both of these papers follow closely on earlier results of mine, including Collins 2002 ('Eliminating Labels') and Collins and Stabler 2016 ('A Formaliation of Minimalist Syntax'). I am glad that they are finally going to see the light of day in Grohmann and Leivada's eagerly anticipated handbook.

Distinguishing Copies and Repetitions

Chris Collins, New York University

Erich Groat, University of Nottingham

Abstract:

In this paper, we will consider a number of proposals for distinguishing copies and repetitions. We show that each proposal faces serious difficulties. In particular, any solution to the issue of distinguishing copies and repetitions consistent with minimalist aims must meet the following criteria: (a) no operations other than Merge should be used to build structure, (b) nothing beyond lexical items and the structures built from them by Merge should be interpreted by the interfaces, and (c) the definition of Merge should not be made more complex than Merge(X,Y) = {X,Y}. No current proposal satisfies all of these criteria. We conclude that no adequate proposal exists in minimalist syntax for distinguishing copies and repetitions.

Keywords:

copies, repetitions, chains, occurrences, multi-dominance, phases, phase-level memory

(https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003809)

Labeling without Labels

Chris Collins, New York University and

T. Daniel Seely, Eastern Michigan University

Abstract:

We argue in this vignette that Chomsky’s 2013, 2015 Problems of Projection (PoP) is entirely consistent with the label-free syntax initiated by Collins 2002, and further explored in Seely 2006, in deriving the effects of labels from independently motivated principles. Although PoP refers to labels and a ‘labeling algorithm’, in fact, there are no labels in Chomsky’s framework. Rather, PoP offers a novel, and elegantly simple, answer to the question of how the effects of labels can be derived without appeal to any special (and stipulative) label-projection mechanism. With respect to categorial identification of a syntactic object at the interfaces, label information in PoP is provided by (i) irreducible features of lexical items, and (ii) 3rd factor, hence freely available, Minimal Search. Merge, the most fundamental operation of the narrow syntax, is thereby simplified by eliminating the label-projection component, allowing just binary set formation: Merge(X, Y) = {X, Y}.

Keywords: 

labels, labeling algorithm, label-free syntax, minimal search, simplest Merge, 3rd factor, interfaces, Strong Minimalist Thesis

(https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005486)