Link to Paper: Reconstruction and the New Minimalism
Abstract
In this brief note, I discuss a problem that arises within the theoretical framework for natural language syntax based on Hopf algebra (Marcolli et al., 2025). The framework does not capture reconstruction effects that are the main empirical motivation for the copy theory of movement, and a cornerstone of minimalist syntax.
Keywords
reconstruction, internal Merge, copies, No Tampering Condition
In this blog post, I give a set-theoretic formalization of simplest Merge and a graph-theoretic formalization and then compare the two. The conclusion is that the graph-theoretic definition is more complicated, and involves a violation of the Inclusiveness Condition.
The LinguistList announcement for MaS 5 has been launched:
https://linguistlist.org/issues/37/2781/
Please register here:
https://sites.google.com/udel.edu/mas5/registration?authuser=0
Morphology as Syntax 5
Short Title: MaS5
Theme: Reducing morphology entirely to syntax
Date: 16-Apr-2027 - 16-Apr-2027
Location: Newark, Delaware, USA
Contact: Benjamin Bruening
Contact Email: bruening@udel.edu
Meeting URL: https://sites.google.com/udel.edu/mas5/home
Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Morphology; Syntax
Submission Deadline: 15-Jan-2027
Here is the announcement of my talk about Merge in the Reflections talk series on November 6, 2026. I also paste the registration link for those interested.
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Here is the syllabus for my seminar (co-taught with Richie Kayne) this semester (Fall 2026).
Merge is All You Need: An Esquisse of Morphology as Syntax
Chris Collins, New York University
August 24, 2026
Syntactic Pathways to Morphology, Online Lecture Series
Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Merge is All You Need: An Esquisse of Morphology as Syntax
Chris Collins, New York University
August 24, 2026
Syntactic Pathways to Morphology, Online Lecture Series
Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Abstract: In the following list, I outline the picture that I have developed in over forty years of studying natural language syntax, the mental system that allows us to combine words and phrases into larger phrases. This presentation is meant to be completely accessible to an interested non-linguist.
Syntactic Pathways to Morphology (SPTM) is a monthly online lecture series hosted by the Department of Linguistics at the University of São Paulo, bringing together researchers working on the morphology-syntax interface, with a particular focus on syntactic approaches to morphology. Conceived as a forum for scholarly exchange, SPTM fosters discussion on the explanatory power of different theoretical mechanisms within syntactic theory in accounting for morphological phenomena.
Here are two lengthy conversations that I had with Noam Chomsky on the topics of language, thought and formal semantics. I was very honored to have been able to have these conversations with Noam, who has been a guiding light for me throughout my career.
A Conversation with Noam Chomsky about Formal Semantics (June 25, 2021)
A Conversation with Noam Chomsky about Language and Thought (March 27, 2022)
You have spent a grueling year writing up your Qualifying Paper (QP) for your Ph.D. program. You have read and carefully studied dozens of papers preparing your QP. You have been having weekly, sometimes tense, meetings with your supervisor, and somewhat less frequent meetings with the other committee members. Now, you have a 70-page double-spaced QP, containing your analysis of X, resulting in a successful defense.
What are the next steps?
This blog post summarizes the confusing web of concepts associated with recursion, and comments on how they are related to each other. In particular, I will show how each of the concepts relates to the minimalist structure building operation Merge.
There are many different concrete skills that students learn in an undergraduate syntax course. We can divide them into (at least) four groups.
a. Skills involving working with syntactic data.
b. Skills involving tree drawing.
c. Skills involving formulating and testing hypotheses.
d. Skills involving applying theoretical principles to data (e.g., the Binding Theory).
Of course, there is not always a clear line between these categories, but they are a good starting point for the discussion. In this blog post, I take up the first category, skills involving working with syntactic data. In future blog posts, I will take up the other categories.
Quotative Inversion
1. What is the status of the external argument in quotative inversion?
The external argument is in-situ in Spec vP.
2. What is the status of the quote in quotative inversion?
The quotative operator (not the quote) undergoes movement to Spec TP, and is co-indexed with the quote.
3. What is the status of the verb in quotative inversion?
The VP moves to a position higher than the in-situ subject: VP-S.
4. What is the role of smuggling in quotative inversion?
The movement of the VP smuggles the quotative operator over the in-situ subject so that the quotative operator can undergo A-movement to Spec TP.
5. What is the status of the transitivity constraint in quotative inversion?
The transitivity constraint follows without stipulation from minimal search.
6. What sort of variation is found in quotative inversion cross-linguistically?
Different languages use different constructions for the task, depending on what is available. Setswana uses a post-verbal focus construction. German and Dutch use a verb-second construction.
Inversion
7. What other kinds of inversion are found in English?
Quotative inversion, locative inversion, presentatives, inverse copular constructions, existential there constructions, so-inversion and as-inversion.
8. How does quotative inversion relate to the other kinds of inversion in English?
They have exactly the same derivation involving VP movement, smuggling and A-movement to Spec TP.
9. What properties do inversion constructions in English have in common?
(a) The transitivity constraint, (b) resisting post-verb nominative subjects, (c) agreement alternations, (d) [V prt DP] word order (where applicable).
Passive
10. What is the relationship between quotative inversion and the passive?
Both involve smuggling the object over the in-situ subject.
11. What is the status of VoiceP in syntactic theory?
VoiceP mediates between theta-positions and A-positions. VoiceP does not introduce the external argument, contrary to popular opinion.
12. What are the smugglers in quotative inversion and the passive?
The quotative inversion involves VP movement, whereas passive involves PartP movement.
13. If implicit arguments are possible in the passive, why not in quotative inversion?
The post-verbal subject in quotative inversion needs Case, but in Collins 2024 implicit arguments do not get assigned case (caseless pro).
Heavy DP Shift
14. Does Heavy DP Shift give evidence for rightward movement?
No, c-command tests show clearly that it is not rightward movement.
15. Is movement of the DP in Heavy DP Shift A- or A’-movement?
Heavy DP Shift is A’-movement, since it licenses parasitic gaps.
16. What is the analysis of Heavy DP Shift?
Heavy DP Shift involves vP movement smuggling the subject over the element in Spec FocP.
17. What is the theoretical importance of Heavy DP Shift in quotative inversion?
Normally the subject of a finite clause cannot undergo Heavy DP Shift, but in quotative inversion it can.
General
18. What does inversion tell us about the status of rightward movement in UG?
Neither inversion nor Heavy DP Shift provide any evidence for rightward movement in UG.
19. What is the status of smuggling in UG?
Smuggling is made freely available by UG, since it involves a sequence of two permissible operations of internal Merge.
20. How can the different types of smuggling be classified?
Smuggling can be classified by the kind of movement of the smuggler. For example, there is A’-smuggling (tough-movement). We have not seen any example of A-smuggling yet (the smuggler is a DP undergoing A-movement). Smuggling can also be classified by the size and category of the smuggler (e.g., VP, vP versus PartP).
21. What is the status of freezing in UG?
There is no general freezing constraint in UG, as shown by the ubiquity of smuggling.
22. What are the implications of smuggling for the theory of locality?
Smuggling is the only way of avoiding a locality constraint (such as RM, MLC or PIC). Other approaches, such as leapfrogging, involve unnecessary complications (such as equidistance).
23. What are the implications of inversion phenomena for the A/A’-distinction?
VP/PartP movement is neither A- nor A’-movement. It is its own category with its own properties.
24. What does inversion in English tell us about the theory of argument structure?
Inversion phenomena are analyzed as movement, not the alternative projection of arguments. The projection of arguments is determined by the theta-criterion, not simply by the formal mechanisms of formal semantics, which is unrestrictive.
25. What are the implications of inversion phenomena for the theory of voice?
Voice can be defined as the mapping of arguments to A-positions. Voice phenomena such as the middle, passive and inverse voice all involve inversion and smuggling in the same sense as quotative inversion, locative inversion and presentatives.
Preliminary Proposal: Morphology as Syntax, Volumes 1 and 2.
Abstract: The proposal is for a two-volume set dedicated to defining and exploring Morphology as Syntax, a new theory about the relationship between morphology and syntax.
Abstract: This paper explores the syntax of verb focus in Kabiye, a Gur language spoken in Togo.
Collins, Chris and Komlan Essizewa. 2007. Syntax of Verb Focus in Kabiye. In Doris L. Payne and Jaime Peña (eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, 191-203. Cascadilla Proceedings Project, Somerville, MA.
The Syntax of Verb Focus in Kabiye
Grading assignments is an essential part of the teaching process. But professors and TAs are expected to figure out how to do it on their own. This post outlines some guidelines that I have found to be useful when grading undergraduate syntax assignments.
Abstract: In this brief note, I discuss a problem that arises within the theoretical framework for natural language syntax based on Hopf algebra (Marcolli et. al. 2024). The framework does not capture reconstruction effects that are the main empirical motivation for the copy theory of movement, and a cornerstone of minimalist syntax.
Keywords: reconstruction, internal Merge, copies, No Tampering Condition
Inversion Seminar
March 10, 2026
Comparison of COCA and Google for Syntactic Research
In this blog post, I give a brief comparison of searching for syntactic data on COCA (Corpus of American English) and searching for syntactic data on the internet using Google (for a detailed discussion of the latter, see the appendix of Collins 2024).
Internet COCA
Size vast 1 billion words
Note: The difference in size means that that there are many more kinds of interesting examples that are accessible on the internet than on COCA.
Punctuation not sensitive very sensitive
Note: Google ignores all punctuation in doing searches. COCA does searches of strings including punctuation (including the period and quotation marks). For certain syntactic topics, e.g., quotative inversion, this is a very useful feature.
Statistics very rough precise
Note: If I search for two variants of a construction (e.g., inversion versus no inversion in a quotative construction), I might want to compare the frequency of the two variants. COCA allows very precise comparison of numbers over the corpus. But for Google, the best one can do is zero versus few versus many. The exact numbers seem to be less meaningful for Google.
Tagged Data no yes
Note: The COCA corpus has a rich system of tagging for part of speech, so these categories can be used in syntactic searches. The internet is not tagged for part of search, so no such categories can be used.
Inversion Seminar
March 10, 2026
Class Exercise on Using Online Tools in Syntactic Research
In the first half of the class, I will present some data that I have gathered from COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) on quotative inversion. In the second half of the class (starting from around 10:30am), we will do the following exercise.
Objective: Using the internet, online corpora and chatbots have become important methodologies in syntactic research. The exercise below explores various aspects of these methodologies, using the topics discussed in the seminar as a test case.
Instructions: Choose some property of quotative inversion (or another inversion construction in English) that you would like to investigate. For example, you could study the transitivity constraint, or the distribution of particles, or any other property that interests you. Then choose one of the projects below (or design your own project). Take about 20-30 minutes to carry out the project in class. You can work in small groups, if you prefer. When you finish, we will have mini-presentations (around 5 minutes each) of the results. After class, please send me a very short summary of what you discovered, including the data that you obtained. I will put these summaries in a Google Drive folder.
Possible Projects:
1. Use COCA (https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/, or one of the other English corpora) to investigate some property of quotative inversion (or another inversion construction). Can the corpus be used to find interesting new data? Can it be used to give accurate statistical information? What challenges does the corpus pose? What benefits does it bring? What prompts did you use?
2. Use Google (or another search engine) to investigate some property of quotative inversion (or another inversion construction). Can the search engine be used to find interesting new data? Can it be used to give accurate statistical information? What challenges does the search engine pose? What benefits does it bring? What prompts did you use?
3. Use a chatbot (such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) to investigate some property of quotative inversion (or another inversion construction). Can the chatbot be used to find interesting new data? Can it be used to give accurate statistical information? What challenges does the chatbot pose? What benefits does it bring? What prompts did you use?
4. Compare two of the corpora on english-corpora.org for their use in syntactic research. What are the pros and cons of each corpus for syntactic research?
5. Compare two different search engines (e.g., Google versus Bing or others) for their use in syntactic research. What are the pros and cons of each search engine for syntactic research?
6. Compare two different chatbots for their use in syntactic research. What are the pros and cons of each chatbot for syntactic research?
7. Compare two of the three methodologies above (corpora, search engines, chatbots). What are the pros and cons of each method for syntactic research?
