Nanosyntax and the Lexicalization Algorithm

This book presents the latest research in the Nanosyntax framework, a late-insertion theory based on the idea that the elementary building blocks of syntactic trees are limited to single features. The features are assembled by means of syntax and lexicalized by means of phrasal lexicalization and the lexicalization algorithm, a simple, constrained, and algorithmic process of externalization of syntactic structures. The chapters in this volume are divided into four parts that each contribute to a better understanding of the framework as a whole and of the lexicalization algorithm in particular.

The case studies in Part I use the lexicalization algorithm to probe for the underlying ingredients of the functional sequence, while those in Part II take a closer look at the structural nature of prefixes and how they differ from suffixes, exploring the complications related to their derivation. Part III investigates the finer detail of the algorithm, presenting its most recent innovations, in order to resolve some challenging data patterns relating to (apparent) non-local allomorphy, neutralization, ABA-patterns, and theme vowels. The volume's final part looks forward to new avenues of investigation, with chapters on phonologically-conditioned allomorphy, selection, and multilingual settings.

Pavel Caha, Associate Professor, Masaryk University,Karen De Clercq, Chargée de Recherche, Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, CNRS / Université Paris Cité,Guido Vanden Wyngaerd, Professor, KU Leuven

Pavel Caha is an associate professor at Masaryk University. His research focuses on the theoretical implications of case marking, declensions, and degree morphology. His work has been published in journals such as Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, Morphology, Journal of Linguistics, and Glossa, and in reference works including The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Morphology, and The Cambridge Handbook of Distributed Morphology.


Karen De Clercq is a CNRS researcher affiliated with the Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle at Université Paris Cité. Her main research interest is the morphosyntax of negation, which she approaches from a typological and nanosyntactic perspective. She is the author of The Morphosyntax of Negative Markers (Mouton de Gruyter, 2020), and co-editor of Exploring Nanosyntax (OUP, 2018) and Adverbial Resumption in Verb Second Languages (OUP, 2023).


Guido Vanden Wyngaerd is a full-time professor at KU Leuven for the fields of Dutch and General Linguistics. His current research focuses on negation and adjectival degrees from a nanosyntactic perspective. His publications include Dissolving Binding Theory (with Johan Rooryck; OUP, 2011), as well as a number of articles in leading international journals and reference works. He is an Associate Editor of Glossa.