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Merge: Past, Present, and Future
Chris Collins, November 6, 2026
REFLECTIONS: Structure Building in Syntax and Beyond
Abstract: This talk traces the evolution of the syntactic operation Merge from early minimalism until the present day. Topics discussed include internal versus external Merge, labeling, simplest Merge, Merge extensions (such as parallel Merge and late Merge), the relationship between Merge and the workspace, the formalization of Merge in Hopf algebras, copies versus repetitions, and the scope of Merge.
Late Insertion is Problematic and Unnecessary
Benjamin Bruening, University of Delaware
Guest Lecture, New York University
November 5, 2026
Merge: Past, Present, and Future
Chris Collins
November 6, 2026
REFLECTIONS: Structure Building in Syntax and Beyond
Abstract: This talk traces the evolution of the syntactic operation Merge from early minimalism until the present day. Topics discussed include internal versus external Merge, labeling, simplest Merge, Merge extensions (such as parallel Merge and late Merge), the relationship between Merge and the workspace, the formalization of Merge in Hopf algebras, copies versus repetitions, and the scope of Merge.
If you want to attend the talk, you need to register:
Collins, Chris and T. Daniel Seely. 2026. Labeling without Labels. In Kleanthes K. Grohmann and Evelina Leivada (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Minimalism, 168-178. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
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
Collins, Chris and Erich Groat. 2026. Distinguishing Copies and Repetitions. In Kleanthes K. Grohmann and Evelina Leivada (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Minimalism, 317-333. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Distinguishing Copies and Repetitions
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
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