Understanding Minimalist Syntax Lessons from

Understanding Minimalist Syntax introduces the logic of the Minimalist Program by analyzing well-known descriptive generalizations about long-distance dependencies. Proposes a new theory of how long-distance dependencies are formed, with implications for theories of locality, and the Minimalist Program as a whole Rich in empirical coverage, which will be welcomed by experts in the field, yet accessible enough for students looking for an introduction to the Minimalist Program

Cedric Boeckx is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and a member of the Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard University. He is the author of Islands and Chains (2003), Linguistic Minimalism (2006), and numerous articles in journals such as Linguistic Inquiry and Natural Language and Linguistic Theory.

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introductory Remarks	p. 1
The Framework	p. 1
Outline of the Book: Goals and Structure	p. 4
The Marks of Successive Cyclicity (The What-Question)	p. 9
Subjacency and the Emergence of Successive Cyclicity	p. 9
The Evidence	p. 11
Syntax	p. 11
Morphology	p. 14
Phonology	p. 22
Semantics	p. 23
Morpho-syntactic evidence from, overtly stranded pieces	p. 26
A-movement	p. 29
Conclusion	p. 34
The Distribution of Intermediate Landing Sites (The Where-Question)	p. 39
Punctuated vs. Uniform Paths	p. 40
The Difficulties Faced by Punctuated Path Hypotheses	p. 43
Phases: an overview	p. 44
Conceptual arguments for phases	p. 46
Arguments against phases	p. 48
Old problems for phases	p. 50
No empirical argument for phases	p. 54
Conclusion	p. 61
The Timing of Intermediate Steps of Movement (The When-Question)	p. 64
Early vs. Late Successive Cyclicity	p. 64
Takahashi (1994)	p. 66
The Evidence for Early Successive Cyclic Movement	p. 70
Background information on applicatives	p. 71
The need for early successive cyclic movement	p. 76
Potential Arguments for Late Successive Cyclic Movement	p. 80
Sub-extraction out of a moved element	p. 80
Intervening traces	p. 82
Object agreement	p. 83
Conclusion	p. 86
The Motivation for Intermediate Movement Steps (The Why-Question)	p. 90
Last Resort	p. 90
Problematic Cases	p. 91
Concord	p. 91
Successive cyclicity	p. 92
Anti-locality	p. 101
Anti-locality and Successive Cyclicity	p. 106
Anti-locality and Last Resort	p. 110
The Why-Question	p. 113
Conclusion	p. 117
Alternative Views on Successive Cyclicity	p. 119
Tag-based Accounts	p. 119
An Agreement-based Account	p. 125
Prolific Domains	p. 129
Greed-based Approaches	p. 129
Conclusion	p. 132
Successive Cyclicity and Other Aspects of Locality	p. 133
The Standard View on Islands	p. 134
Puzzles for the Standard View	p. 136
Movement, freezing, and escape hatch	p. 136
Island by default?	p. 137
Island-obviation	p. 137
Ross's View	p. 145
Agreement and Islandhood	p. 145
Conclusion	p. 148
Concluding Remarks	p. 150
References	p. 152
Index	p. 167
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Understanding Minimalist Syntax Lessons from Locality in Long-Distance Dependencies

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