Symmetry in Syntax: Merge and Demerge
Symmetry in Syntax: Merge and Demerge
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语法对称：合并与分离
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发表时间：
1998
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通讯作者：
Yuji Takano
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作者：
Naoki Fukui;Yuji Takano
本文提出了一种短语结构理论，该理论尽可能不受无动机规定的影响，并且与目前可用的最具限制性的参数变分理论（cf. Fukui(1995)）相兼容，特别关注线性顺序和功能范畴的性质和作用。提出了“推导对称”的假设，根据该假设，显性句法的计算（即拼写前的计算）和（前形态学的）音系成分的计算是“对称的”，因为它们互为镜像。更具体地说，我们建议语言计算以这样一种方式将语言元素数组映射到接口表示，即它以自下而上的方式（Merge）从一个词法项（head）开始，在这个逐步衍生过程（spellout）的某个点上开始“分解”已经以自上而下的方式形成的结构（Demerge），直到衍生达到具有固定线性顺序的完全非结构化序列。结果表明，这种对称原理很好地解释了短语结构的主要特性。该原理以一种直接的方式解释了Spec的明显普遍的“左性”属性，通过将其左性归因于Spec，根据定义，是自顶向下计算Demerge遇到的给定短语中的第一个最大投影。关于头部和补语之间的顺序，允许跨语言变化（头首与头尾），对称原则预测头尾顺序反映了“基本”顺序，不涉及相关的运动，而头首顺序是由运动衍生的，与Kayne（1994）的方法形成鲜明对比。因此，首字母开头的英语和首字母结尾的日语之间的差异归因于“轻动词”v的不同属性（乔姆斯基（1995b））： v在英语中具有吸引v的属性，而在日语中则没有。许多理论和经验的结果显示，以一种有趣的方式遵循这个假设，再加上推导的对称性原则。
This article proposes a theory of phrase structure which is free from unmotivated stipulations as much as possible and which is also compatible with the most restrictive theory of parametric variation currently available (cf. Fukui (1995)), with a special focus on the nature and role of linear order and functional categories. A hypothesis called the "Symmetry of Derivation" is put forth, according to which the computations in the overt syntax (i.e., the pre-Spell-Out computations) and the computations in the (pre-Morphology) phonological component are "symmetric" in the sense that they form mirror images of each other. More specifically, we propose that language computation maps an array of linguistic elements to an interface representation in such a way that it starts with a lexical item (a head) proceeding in a bottom-up fashion (Merge) and at some point of this step-by-step derivational process (Spell-Out) starts "decomposing" the structures already formed in a top-down fashion ("Demerge") until the derivation reaches a completely unstructured sequence with a fixed linear order.It is shown that this symmetry principle explains the major properties of phrase structure in an elegant way. The principle accounts for the apparently universal "leftness" property of Spec in a straightforward way by attributing its leftness to the fact that a Spec, by definition, is the first maximal projection in a given phrase that the top-down computation Demerge encounters. With respect to the order between a head and its complement, which allows for cross-linguistic variation (head-initial vs. head-last), the symmetry principle predicts that the head-last order reflects the "base" order involving no relevant movement whereas the head-initial order is derived by movement, in clear contrast with Kayne's (1994) approach. The difference between head-initial English and head-last Japanese is, then, attributed to different properties of a "light verb" v (Chomsky (1995b)): v has the property of attracting V in English but not in Japanese. Numerous theoretical and empirical consequences are shown to follow in an interesting way from this hypothesis, coupled with the symmetry principle of derivations.