LINGUIST List 17.2468
Sat Sep 02 2006
Diss: Morphology/Syntax: Siddiqi: 'Minimize Exponence: Economy effe...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Daniel
Siddiqi,
Minimize Exponence: Economy effects on the morphosyntactic component of the grammar
Message 1: Minimize Exponence: Economy effects on the morphosyntactic component of the grammar
Date: 31-Aug-2006
From: Daniel Siddiqi <dan.siddiqittu.edu>
Subject: Minimize Exponence: Economy effects on the morphosyntactic component of the grammar
Institution: University of Arizona
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2006
Author: Daniel A Siddiqi
Dissertation Title: Minimize Exponence: Economy effects on the morphosyntactic component of the grammar
Linguistic Field(s):
Morphology
Syntax
Dissertation Director:
Andrew Carnie
Michael Hammond
Heidi Harley
Simin Karimi
Dissertation Abstract:
Working within the morphosyntactic framework of Distributed Morphology (DM,Halle and Marantz 1993, 1994) within the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995),this dissertation proposes a new economy constraint on the grammar,MINIMIZE EXPONENCE, which selects the derivation that realizes all itsinterpretable features with the fewest morphemes. The purpose of thisproposal is to capture the conflicting needs of the grammar to be bothmaximally contrastive and maximally efficient.
I argue that the constraint MINIMIZE EXPONENCE has a number of effects onanalyses of morphosyntactic phenomena. I propose that, in order to satisfyMINIMIZE EXPONENCE, the roots in a derivation fuse with the functionalheads projected above them, resulting in a simplex head that contains botha root and interpretable features. Following the tenets of DM, this headis now a target for the process of Vocabulary insertion. Since the targetnode contains both content and functional information, so too canVocabulary Items (VIs) be specified for both types of information. Thisallows VIs such as eat and ate to compete with each other. Thiscompetition of forms linked to the same root allows for a new model of rootallomorphy within the framework of DM. In this model of root allomorphy,following proposals by Pfau (2000), VIs that realize roots participate incompetition in the same was as do VIs that realize abstract morphemes.Since root VIs are participating in competition and are specified for bothcontent and formal features, the need for licensing through secondaryexponence as proposed by Harley and Noyer (2000) is removed from theframework. Further, since eat and ate in this model are different VIs withdifferent specifications that compete with each other for insertion, thismodel of root allomorphy also eliminates the need for readjustment rules asproposed by Halle and Marantz (1993, 1994) and elaborated on by Marantz(1997). This new model of root allomorphy allows for an account of theblocking of regular inflection in English nominal compounds (e.g.*rats-catcher), which was problematic for theorists working with DM, giventhe tenets of the framework.
I also arge that the fusion of roots and functional elements driven byMINIMIZE EXPONENCE allows for a new account of subcategorization. Themodel of subcategorization presented here falls out of the following facts: 1) arguments are introduced by functional heads; 2) those heads fuse withthe root they are projected above, resulting in the node containing boththe root and the features of the functional heads; 3) since the root nowcontains both the root and the formal features, the corresponding VI can bespecified for both; 4) VIs that realize roots can also be specified forcompatibility or incompatibility of the features of the functional headsthat license argument structure. The result here is an underspecificationmodel of subcategorization that predicts a number of behaviors of verbswith respect to their argument structure that it is difficult for a fullspecification model to account for. Those include polysemy (I ran the ballto Mary) and structural coercion (I thought the book to Mary).
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