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Agreement and DP‐Internal Feature Distribution
Author(s) -
Da Gabi
Publication year - 2011
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.1467-9612.2011.00154.x
Subject(s) - feature (linguistics) , node (physics) , valuation (finance) , computer science , distinctive feature , distribution (mathematics) , work (physics) , mathematical economics , algorithm , mathematics , physics , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics , economics , finance , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
. An implicit assumption in most minimalist work is that DP as a whole carries all the φ‐features with which external heads agree. In this paper I argue that under this assumption and the assumption that only a node that is φ‐complete can delete the φ‐features of a node with which it agrees, Chomsky's (2000, 2001) model of feature valuation is incompatible with a large body of work on the DP‐internal distribution of φ‐features, according to which neither N nor D enter the derivation being φ‐complete. I consider several possible solutions and argue that this problem can most easily be avoided by adopting a feature‐sharing model of the operation Agree, as proposed by Frampton & Gutmann (2006) and Pesetsky & Torrego (2007). Finally, several implications for Chomsky's theory of abstract Case are also discussed.