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==== X-bar theory ==== [[X-bar theory]]—first introduced in Chomsky (1970) and elaborated in Jackendoff (1977) among other works—was a major milestone in the history of the development of generative grammar. It contains the following postulates:<ref name="fukui2011">{{cite book|last1=Fukui|first1=Naoki|title=The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Minimalism. Merge and Bare Phrase Structure|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=1–24}}</ref> * Each phrase has a head (endocentric) and it projects to a larger phrase. * Heads are feature complexes that consist of a primitive feature. * The general X-bar schema in (1) is a property of [[Universal grammar|universal grammar (UG)]]: :(1) X' → X... ::X″ → [Spec, X'] X' In the chapter "[[Phrase structure grammar|Phrase Structure]]" of ''The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory'', Naoki Fukui determined three kinds of syntactic relationships, (1) ''Dominance'': the hierarchical categorization of the lexical items and constituents of the structure, (2) ''Labeling'': the syntactic category of each constituent and (3) ''Linear order'' (or ''Precedence''): the left-to-right order of the [[Constituent (linguistics)|constituents]] (essentially the existence of the X-bar schemata). Whereas X-bar theory was composed of the three relationships, bare phrase structure only encodes the first two relationships.<ref name=":10" /> Claims 1 and 2 have almost completely withstood their original forms through grammatical theory development, unlike Claim 3, which has not. Claim 1 will be eliminated later on in favour of projection-less nodes.<ref name="fukui2011" /> In 1980, the principles and parameters (P&P) approach took place which marked the emergence of different theories that stray from rule-based grammars/rules, and have instead been replaced with multiple segments of UG such as X-bar theory, case theory, etc. During this time, PS rules disappeared because they have proved to be redundant since they recap what is in the lexicon. [[Transformational grammar|Transformational rules]] have survived with a few amendments to how they are expressed. For complex traditional rules, they do not need to be defined and they can be dwindled to a general schema called Move-α—which means things can be moved anywhere. The only two sub-theories that withstood time within P&P is Move-α. Of the fundamental properties mentioned above, X-bar theory accounts for hierarchical structure and endocentricity, while Move-α accounts for unboundedness and non-local dependencies. A few years later, an effort was made to merge X-bar theory with Move-a by suggesting that structures are built from the bottom going up (using [[Adjunct (grammar)|adjunction]] or substitution depending on the target structure):<ref name="fukui2011" /> * Features are discharged as soon as a [[Head (linguistics)|head]] projects. This follows from the idea that phrases are endocentric (headed): the head is the obligatory component of a phrasal constituent and projects its essential features. *There is no X-bar schema, and no requirements for maximal projection to be specified as bar levels. This is a consequence of the claim that features discharged by projection of the head. * At any given bar level, iteration is possible. This is based on the idea that phrase structure composition is infinite. * Adjunction is responsible for movement and structure-building. This is based on the idea that transformational operations are fundamental. * Projections are closed by agreement. This based on the idea that in some languages (Japanese), phrases do not close and elements can be added to keep expanding it. (This is not the case in English.) X-bar theory had a number of weaknesses and was replaced by bare phrase structure, but some X-bar theory notions were borrowed by BPS.<ref name="lowe2020" /> Labeling in bar phrase structure specifically was adapted from conventions of X-bar theory; however, in order to get the "barest" phrase structures there are some dissimilarities. BPS differs from X-bar theory in the following ways:<ref name=":10" /> # BPS is explicitly derivational. That is, it is built from the bottom up, bit by bit. In contrast, X-bar theory is representational—a structure for a given construction is built in one fell swoop, and [[lexical items]] are inserted into the structure. # BPS does not have a preconceived phrasal structure, while in X-bar theory every phrase has a [[Specifier (linguistics)|specifier]], a head, and a [[complement (linguistics)|complement]]. # BPS permits only binary branching, while X-bar theory permits both binary and unary branching. # BPS does not distinguish between a "head" and a "terminal", while some versions of X-bar theory require such a distinction. # BPS incorporates features into their structure, such as Xmax and Xmin, while X-bar theory contains levels, such as XP, X', X #BPS accounts cross-linguistically as maximal projections can be perceived at an XP level or an X' level, whereas X-bar theory only perceives XP as the maximal projection. The main reasoning behind the transition from X-bar theory to BPS is the following: # Eliminating the notion of non-[[Branching (linguistics)|branching]] domination # Eliminating the necessity of bar-level projections The examples below show the progression of [[syntax]] structure from X-bar theory (the theory preceding BPS), to specifier-less structure. BPS satisfies the principles of UG using at minimum two interfaces such as 'conceptual-intentional and sensorimotor systems' or a third condition not specific to language but still satisfying the conditions put forth by the interface.<ref name="fukui2011" /> [[File:Syntax tree - 2020-12-18T192059.565.png|thumb|333x333px|This tree is drawn according to the principles of X-bar theory, the theory that precedes BPS.|left]] [[File:Syntax tree - 2020-12-18T192300.216.png|none|thumb|483x483px|This is a tree of the same sentence as the X-bar theory syntax tree right above; however, this one uses BPS along with selection features.]]
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