Formal Properties of Agreeing Minimalist Grammars

Minimalist grammars (Stabler, 1997, MGs,) are a formalization of core ideas of the minimalist program (Chomsky, 1995). One glaring discrepancy between minimalist practice and formalization has been agreement. Agree is taken in the linguistic community as a fundamental operation of grammar, whereas in the formal community it has been ignored. Ermolaeva & Kobele (2022) propose an extension of MGs which allow for agreement to take place between lexical items. Their implementation, in the spirit of so-called post-syntactic approaches to Agree (Bobaljik, 2008), divorces agreement from the syntax proper, and mediates it via annotations on lexical items. A metaphorical perspective views the morphological information as a liquid, derivationally established dependencies between lexical items as channels, and the lexical annotations as sluices controlling the flow of liquid through channels. The formal properties of MGs with agreement have not been investigated. This paper aims to fill that gap

The semantic effects of verb raising and its consequences in second language grammars

This article considers whether highly proficient second language speakers of English can distinguish meaning contrasts associated with constructions where there is a raising be, and constructions where there is a non-raising thematic verb, as illustrated in the difference between (1a) and (1b): 1a. Kim is reading a novel (`event-in-progress/existential ? interpretation

From the Origins of Government and Binding to the Current State of Minimalism

This chapter provides a review of the current Chomskyan approach to the study of human language, known as the Minimalist Program. It offers an overview of the central ideas that were central in shaping the program, in particular Government and Binding Theory. It presents an outline of what the essential ideas of the program are, focusing in particular on how the Minimalist Program is seen as a natural development of Government and Binding Theory. Then it discusses a few current developments within the program. In general, the chapter aims to provide an overview in broad strokes, and therefore it focuses on conceptual and theoretical issues rather than technical or empirical results

Afro-Hispanic contact varieties as conventionalized advanced second languages

This article focuses on some linguistic aspects of Afro-Hispanic contact varieties that have traditionally been ascribed to their supposed creole origin. Conversely, the present analysis suggests that such linguistic features can be accounted for as the result of conventionalized advanced SLA strategies (Plag 2008a; Siegel 2008), which do not necessarily imply any previous creole stage. !e theoretical framework adopted here is the one provided by the Minimalist Constructionism, which assumes that SLA is driven by UG through a path of “possible grammars” (Herschensohn 2000). In particular, the features under analysis are seen as possible L2 instantiations of UG, which crystallized under the form of L1 structures in the grammars of the following generations of speakers. In addition, this paper provides a re"ection on the nature of these contact dialects and their contribution to the study of syntax and SLA from a microparametric perspective (Kayne 1996)