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Coconstrual and Narrow Syntax
Author(s) -
Safir Ken
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
syntax
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-9612
pISSN - 1368-0005
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9612.2008.00117.x
Subject(s) - merge (version control) , syntax , abstract syntax tree , abstract syntax , computer science , linguistics , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , feature (linguistics) , minimalist program , architecture , word grammar , exploit , programming language , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , philosophy , psychology , generative grammar , history , relational grammar , emergent grammar , developmental psychology , computer security , archaeology , information retrieval
. This essay argues that antecedent‐anaphor and bound‐variable relations (coconstrual relations) are formed outside of narrow syntax by an interpretive component that exploits the structures built by minimalist architecture. It is demonstrated that attempts to reduce coconstrual to the tree‐building operations of narrow syntax (Agree, feature theory, Merge and its subcase, Remerge) do not succeed in dispensing with conditions that evaluate constructed trees and thus such accounts offer no conceptual advantage. Instead it is established that syntactically sensitive coconstrual relations must be interpreted from the output of narrow syntax, but are not expressed within narrow syntax at all. This result unburdens narrow syntax of a class of relations that bring theoretical and empirical complications, while providing a more elegant account of coconstrual in a broader conception of the interpretive interface.