A Study of Legibility Conditions in the Minimalist Program

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I have tried to investigate and explicate the properties of legibility conditions/interface conditions from the viewpoint of the interrelations between narrow syntax/predication theory and cognitive/thought systems. Structures constructed in narrow syntax are sent to Σ by TRANSFER, and are assigned predication interpretation at SEM interface. There are two possible counterparts to this linguistic "predication" in cognitive systems. One is: superordinate/subordinate relations in conceptual hierarchies. It is known that at the level of concepts there are three categories: superordinate, basic, and subordinate categories. In a typical linguistic predication, the predicate is higher than the subject in the conceptual hierarchy. This is exemplified by "Fido is a dog./A dog is an animal." Thus, superordinate/subordinate relations in conceptual hierarchies underlie the linguistic relation of predication. To put it differently, predication is a means for expressing these conceptual hierarchical relations. The other is categorical judgments due to Brentano (1973). His "judgments" are divided into categorical judgments and thetic judgments. The categorical judgment in question consists of "the act of setting up an object in one's mind" and "the act of affirming and denying the predicate of that subject." (Kuroda 1972) Assuming that this categorical judgment belongs to cognitive systems, I have claimed that it corresponds to linguistic predication.