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Interpreting Thematic Relations Cyclically
Author(s) -
Fujii Tomohiro
Publication year - 2013
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/synt.12008
Subject(s) - merge (version control) , thematic map , argument (complex analysis) , interpretation (philosophy) , epistemology , position (finance) , equivalence (formal languages) , computer science , mathematics , philosophy , pure mathematics , information retrieval , geography , economics , cartography , biochemistry , chemistry , finance , programming language
Defending the movement theory of control, Bowers (2008) suggests a possibility that thematic relations are interpreted in a cyclic manner. I argue that this conception of thematic interpretation enables the movement theory of control to respond to one existing empirical argument against it, which concerns cases where an argument apparently cannot raise from a non‐θ‐position to a θ‐position to allegedly satisfy the θ‐Criterion. The central proposal is that the problem does not arise if the θ‐Criterion is formulated to apply phase by phase to detect the thematic uninterpretability of the derivation in on‐line fashion. I also argue that the proposal allows us to further motivate the “equivalence of Merge and Move” thesis discussed by Chomsky (2004,2005,2008).