The Asymmetry of Merge
This paper addresses the following question: What kind of properties must the structure-building operation Merge have such that, given a Numeration, the grammar will build the ‘right’ structure and avoid generating ill-formed configurations? The answer we will propose is that Merge should be seen as...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2008-12-01
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| Series: | Biolinguistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8661 |
| _version_ | 1827368018699616256 |
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| author | Anna Maria Di Sciullo Daniela Isac |
| author_facet | Anna Maria Di Sciullo Daniela Isac |
| author_sort | Anna Maria Di Sciullo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper addresses the following question: What kind of properties must the structure-building operation Merge have such that, given a Numeration, the grammar will build the ‘right’ structure and avoid generating ill-formed configurations? The answer we will propose is that Merge should be seen as an asymmetric operation in the sense of relating two items whose sets of morpho-syntactic features are in a proper inclusion relation. In addition, we propose a partition of features into two stacks: categorial features and operator features. This distinction is independently motivated as it feeds into the definition of External Merge and Internal Merge (Chomsky’s 2001). The proper inclusion condition will be assumed to hold for both of these operations, but the set of features under consideration for the evaluation of the proper inclusion relation differs: strictly categorial features for External Merge, and the whole set of features of lexical items for Internal Merge. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:25:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8df4ded50c204015aaa3559e30d530c9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1450-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:25:06Z |
| publishDate | 2008-12-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biolinguistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-8df4ded50c204015aaa3559e30d530c92024-01-31T10:09:20ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyBiolinguistics1450-34172008-12-012426029010.5964/bioling.86618661The Asymmetry of MergeAnna Maria Di Sciullo0Daniela Isac1Université de Québec à MontréalConcordia UniversityThis paper addresses the following question: What kind of properties must the structure-building operation Merge have such that, given a Numeration, the grammar will build the ‘right’ structure and avoid generating ill-formed configurations? The answer we will propose is that Merge should be seen as an asymmetric operation in the sense of relating two items whose sets of morpho-syntactic features are in a proper inclusion relation. In addition, we propose a partition of features into two stacks: categorial features and operator features. This distinction is independently motivated as it feeds into the definition of External Merge and Internal Merge (Chomsky’s 2001). The proper inclusion condition will be assumed to hold for both of these operations, but the set of features under consideration for the evaluation of the proper inclusion relation differs: strictly categorial features for External Merge, and the whole set of features of lexical items for Internal Merge.https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8661minimalismmergelanguage facultyinterfacesasymmetrycomputational systemproper set inclusion |
| spellingShingle | Anna Maria Di Sciullo Daniela Isac The Asymmetry of Merge Biolinguistics minimalism merge language faculty interfaces asymmetry computational system proper set inclusion |
| title | The Asymmetry of Merge |
| title_full | The Asymmetry of Merge |
| title_fullStr | The Asymmetry of Merge |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Asymmetry of Merge |
| title_short | The Asymmetry of Merge |
| title_sort | asymmetry of merge |
| topic | minimalism merge language faculty interfaces asymmetry computational system proper set inclusion |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8661 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT annamariadisciullo theasymmetryofmerge AT danielaisac theasymmetryofmerge AT annamariadisciullo asymmetryofmerge AT danielaisac asymmetryofmerge |