The Role of Economy Principles in Linguistic Theory

Following Chomsky2s Minimalist Program (MP), much recent work in generative linguistics has focussed on the role of Economy, not only as a heuristic principle guiding theory construction, but as a constitutive princple in the design of language, i. e. a property of the object under study. Economy has previously figured in explanations in phonology, morphology and lexicon theory (underspecification, elsewhere condition). The MP itself is an attempt to derive syntactic properties of linguistic representations from Economy-related principles governing their mode of construction, which interact with morphological properties of lexical items. The papers in this volume present differing views on the scope and nature of Economy principles in syntax, morphology and the lexicon, offering extensions of and alternatives to the MP. In addition to theoretical discussion, they include case studies of specific phenomena in languages ranging from English and German to Japanese and Sioux.

Aus dem Inhalt: Manfred Bierwisch (Berlin): "Lexical Information from a Minimalist Point of View" John Frampton (NorthEastern University): "Expletive Insertion" Günther Grewendorf und Joachim Sabel (Frankfurt): "Wh-Scrambling in the Minimalist Framework" Hubert Haider (Stuttgart): "Economy in Syntax is Projective Economy" Gereon Müller (Tübingen): "Optional Movement and the Interaction of Economy Constraints" Tanya Reinhart (Tel Aviv): "Interface Economy and Markedness" Wolfgang Sternefeld (Tübingen): "Competing Reference Sets" Juan Uriagereka (Maryland): "Formal and Substantive Elegance in the Minimalist Program" Dieter Wunderlich (Düsseldorf): "A Minimalist Model of Inflectional Morphology"