Distinguishing Copies and Repetitions (published)

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