Lecture | Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series
No phases
- Date
- Thursday 9 April 2026
- Time
- Serie
- Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.29
Abstract
In this talk, I argue that Phase Theory (Chomsky, 2000, 2001) can be subsumed by a theory of locality based on Relativized Minimality (Rizzi, 1990). Any phrase head can induce phase-like locality effects for a particular dependency, if it bears the relevant feature. C, v or D have no special status in this respect; For CP, while it reliably induces locality effects in A-bar dependencies, we find crosslinguistic variation in whether it induces locality for other dependencies. Phrases like TP induce locality effects for A-depdencies when they bear phi-features. Examining crosslinguistic patterns in long-distance A-dependencies, we tease apart the predictions of phase-based and minimality-based locality and show that minimality fares better.
(Based on joint work with Stefan Keine (UCLA) and Claire Halpert (Minnesota))