Move A: Conditions on Its Application and Output

Lasnik, Howard;Saito, Mamoru

ISBN 10: 0262121611 / ISBN 13: 9780262121613

Published by MIT Press, Cambridge , MA, 1992

About this Item

Mild edgewear to dustjacket, otherwise clean and sound. Part of series Current Studies in Linguistics. 222 pp.

Seller Inventory # 000939

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Move A: Conditions on Its Application and Output
• Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge , MA
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262121611
• ISBN 13: 9780262121613
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Language
  • Linguistics

About this title

Synopsis

This major contribution to modern syntactic theory elaborates a principles-and-parameters framework in which the differences and similarities among languages with respect to WH-questions can be captured. Move α is part of an overall program, initiated by Noam Chomsky, to create a global theory in which the entire transformational component can be reduced to a single process, Move α. Lasnik and Saito are concerned particularly with bounding requirements on movement (Subjacency) and proper government requirements on traces (The Empty Category Principle). The first two chapters present and extend the ideas proposed in the author's earlier article, On the Nature of Proper Government. Included are detailed discussions of γ-marking, the general rule Affect α, and the definition of proper government, particularly as these relate to WH constructions. The next two chapters propose a modification of Chomsky's Barriers Theory on the basis of a close examination of topicalization and examine the consequences of the modified theory. The discussion extends to restrictions on possible antecedent governors and the implications for quantifier raising and NP-movement of these restrictions. Consequences for Superiority are also considered, and a modified version of this condition is proposed, as is an extension of Chomsky's Uniformity Condition. The final chapter takes up further theoretical issues and alternative approaches.

About the Authors

Howard Lasnik is a Professor at the University of Connecticut.

Mamoru Saito is an Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut.