Relativized Minimality Paperback by Luigi Rizzi

Product Details

• Publisher: The MIT Press (1990-06-13)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 160 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780262680615
• Item Weight: 368.55 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

This monograph presents an important extension of government-binding theory in syntax.

This monograph presents an important extension of government-binding theory in syntax. It offers a new characterization of locality in the theory of government through a relativization of the Minimality Principle, and it explores the consequences of this approach for the Empty Category Principle and the analysis of a variety of empirical domains, including intervention effects, That-trace phenomena, and argument/adjunct asymmetries. The final part of the book is devoted to a new interpretation of the argument/adjunct asymmetries that arise in various extraction processes. Referential indices, a fundamental ingredient of the binding relation, are restricted to occur on referential arguments, as in Chomsky's original proposal. This natural restriction has the surprising effect of capturing the major argument-adjunct asymmetries in a straightforward manner while permitting a radical simplification of the Empty Category Principle.

About the Author

Luigi Rizzi is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Geneva.