(14) I happened to be doing that anyway. (15) The elephants hope to paint again soon. Chapter 7 Features Up to now, we have explored what constitutes the clausal backbone of the English sentence. In the present chapter, we return to the general framework and some areas, such as features and affix-hop. Chapter 1 mentioned a considerable change in how generative linguists look at parameters currently, namely as choices the child makes about the features of the categories that it includes in its lexicon. These features will be helpful in the next chapter on the DP as well. This chapter spells out which kinds of features there are and how a child knows so much about categorization. It also explains what interpretable and uninterpretable features are and how these are used in the Affix Hop that we encountered in chapter 5. The outline is as follows. In section 1, I elaborate on the shift in generative grammar from Universal Grammar (UG) to more general principles that we saw in chapter 1. Section 2 explains the notion of (un)interpretable features and spells out which features are necessary. Section 3 speculates about where features come from. Section 4 uses features in one specific instance, affix-hop. Section 5 is a conclusion. 1 From Universal Grammar to cognitive constraints The Minimalist Program has shifted its emphasis from Universal Grammar to innate factors that are not specific to the language faculty. One of the reasons to deemphasize Universal Grammar is the evolutionary time it had to develop. If language arose in humans not so long ago, a very specific Universal Grammar would have not had the time to develop. The factors not specific to language are referred to as “third factors”, which we saw in the third section of chapter 1. Generative grammar has also shifted its emphasis from syntactic parameters, such as the three outlined in chapter 1, to ones relevant to the lexicon, i.e. features. The parameters are now, as (1).
(14) I happened to be doing that anyway. (15) The elephants hope to paint again soon. Chapter 7 Features Up to now, we have explored what constitutes the clausal backbone of the English sentence. In the present chapter, we return to the general framework and some areas, such as features and affix-hop. Chapter 1 mentioned a considerable change in how generative linguists look at parameters currently, namely as choices the child makes about the features of the categories that it includes in its lexicon. These features will be helpful in the next chapter on the DP as well. This chapter spells out which kinds of features there are and how a child knows so much about categorization. It also explains what interpretable and uninterpretable features are and how these are used in the Affix Hop that we encountered in chapter 5. The outline is as follows. In section 1, I elaborate on the shift in generative grammar from Universal Grammar (UG) to more general principles that we saw in chapter 1. Section 2 explains the notion of (un)interpretable features and spells out which features are necessary. Section 3 speculates about where features come from. Section 4 uses features in one specific instance, affix-hop. Section 5 is a conclusion. 1 From Universal Grammar to cognitive constraints The Minimalist Program has shifted its emphasis from Universal Grammar to innate factors that are not specific to the language faculty. One of the reasons to deemphasize Universal Grammar is the evolutionary time it had to develop. If language arose in humans not so long ago, a very specific Universal Grammar would have not had the time to develop. The factors not specific to language are referred to as “third factors”, which we saw in the third section of chapter 1. Generative grammar has also shifted its emphasis from syntactic parameters, such as the three outlined in chapter 1, to ones relevant to the lexicon, i.e. features. The parameters are now, as (1).
SyntaxBook.docx