Deconstructing Syntactic Theory
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Deconstructing Syntactic Theory
Author: Peter W. Culicover
language: en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date: 2025-06-12
Deconstructing Syntactic Theory is a critical examination of the assumptions and methodologies of contemporary derivational syntactic theory. The study ranges from the earliest work inspired by Chomsky's Syntactic Structures and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax to the present-day Minimalist Program. The book begins with an examination of the relationship between syntactic structure, linear order, and meaning, and the role of uniformity, in motivating derivational analysis that assume movement and invisible structure. A central property of such analyses is that they are cryptoconstructional: construction-specific stipulations are assumed in order to derive the form and meaning of expressions. The second part looks at a range of technical and empirical problems of derivational syntax, which require theoretical stipulations and devices to properly constrain cryptoconstructional analyses. The focus is particularly on problems relating to movement and problems of invisibility. In Part III, the authors turn to the question of the independent justification of syntactic structure, arguing that much hierarchical structure is not only unnecessary, but also does not yield optimal analyses for a number of grammatical phenomena. Part IV focuses on the use of syntax to account for phenomena that are arguably not syntactic; it concludes that using syntax to model semantic phenomena is at best not necessary, and at worse empirically inadequate. Similarly, using syntax to model morphological relations works only for a narrow subset of cases and cannot be sustained more generally without causing significant internal problems. The book concludes with a review of minimalism, laying out aspects of the logic of the Minimalist Program, its assumptions, and their motivations and consequences. The authors argue that minimalism is best achieved by a leaner theory of linguistic representations, along the lines of the constructional architecture of Simpler Syntax, as proposed by Culicover and Jackendoff (2005).
Deconstructing Morphology
Author: Rochelle Lieber
language: en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date: 1992-04-15
One of the major contributions to theoretical linguistics during the twentieth century has been an advancement of our understanding that the information-bearing units which make up human language are organized on a hierarchy of levels. It has been an overarching goal of research since the 1930s to determine the precise nature of those levels and what principles guide interactions among them. Linguists have typically posited phonological, morphological, and syntactic levels, each with its own distinct vocabulary and organizing principles, but in Deconstructing Morphology Rochelle Lieber persuasively challenges the existence of a morphological level of language. Her argument, that rules and vocabulary claimed to belong to the morphological level in fact belong to the levels of syntax and phonology, follows the work of Sproat, Toman, and others. Her study, however, is the first to draw jointly on Chomsky's Government-Binding Theory of syntax and on recent research in phonology. Ranging broadly over data from many languages—including Tagalog, English, French, and Dutch—Deconstructing Morphology addresses key questions in current morphological and phonological research and provides an innovative view of the overall architecture of grammar.
Deconstructing Syntactic Theory
Deconstructing Syntactic Theory is a critical examination of the assumptions and methodologies of contemporary derivational syntactic theory. The study ranges from the earliest work inspired by Chomsky's Syntactic Structures and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax to the present-day Minimalist Program. The book begins with an examination of the relationship between syntactic structure, linear order, and meaning, and the role of uniformity, in motivating derivational analysis that assume movement and invisible structure. A central property of such analyses is that they are cryptoconstructional: construction-specific stipulations are assumed in order to derive the form and meaning of expressions. The second part looks at a range of technical and empirical problems of derivational syntax, which require theoretical stipulations and devices to properly constrain cryptoconstructional analyses. The focus is particularly on problems relating to movement and problems of invisibility. In Part III, the authors turn to the question of the independent justification of syntactic structure, arguing that much hierarchical structure is not only unnecessary, but also does not yield optimal analyses for a number of grammatical phenomena. Part IV focuses on the use of syntax to account for phenomena that are arguably not syntactic; it concludes that using syntax to model semantic phenomena is at best not necessary, and at worse empirically inadequate. Similarly, using syntax to model morphological relations works only for a narrow subset of cases and cannot be sustained more generally without causing significant internal problems. The book concludes with a review of minimalism, laying out aspects of the logic of the Minimalist Program, its assumptions, and their motivations and consequences. The authors argue that minimalism is best achieved by a leaner theory of linguistic representations, along the lines of the constructional architecture of Simpler Syntax, as proposed by Culicover and Jackendoff (2005).