Editing Minimalist program (section)

== Basic operations ==
Early versions of minimalism posits two basic operations: [[Merge (linguistics)|Merge]] and [[Move α|Move]]. Earlier theories of grammar—as well as early minimalist analyses—treat phrasal and movement dependencies differently than current minimalist analyses. In the latter, Merge and Move are different outputs of a single operation. Merge of two syntactic objects (SOs) is called "external Merge". As for Move, it is defined as an instance of "internal Merge", and involves the re-merge of an already merged SO with another SO.<ref name="horstein2018">{{cite journal|last1=Hornstein|first1=Norbert|date=2018|title=Minimalist Program after 25 Years|journal=Annual Review of Linguistics|volume=4|pages=49–65|doi=10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011817-045452}}</ref> In regards to how Move should be formulated, there continues to be active debate about this, but the differences between current proposals are relatively minute.

More recent versions of minimalism recognize three operations: Merge (i.e. external Merge), Move (i.e. internal Merge), and Agree. The emergence of Agree as a basic operation is related to the mechanism which forces movement, which is mediated by feature-checking.

=== Merge ===
{{see also|Merge (linguistics)}}
In its original formulation, Merge is a function that takes two objects (α and β) and merges them into an unordered set with a label, either α or β. In more recent treatments, the possibility of the derived syntactic object being un-labelled is also considered; this is called "simple Merge" (see [[Minimalist program#Label|Label section]]).

{| class="wikitable"
 |<!--col1-->[[File:Merge(α,β) Project α.jpg|100px]]
 |<!--col2-->[[File:Merge(α,β) Project β.jpg|100px]]
 |<!--col3-->[[File:Merge(α,β).jpg|100px]]
 |-
 |<!--col1-->Merge(α,β)→<nowiki>{α,{α,β}}</nowiki>
 |<!--col2-->Merge(α,β)→<nowiki>{β,{α,β}}</nowiki>
 |<!--col3-->Merge(α,β)
 |}

In the version of Merge which generates a label, the label identifies the properties of the phrase. Merge will always occur between two syntactic objects: a head and a non-head.<ref name="fukui2017">{{Cite book|last=Fukui|first=Naoki|title=Merge in the Mind-Brain: Essays on Theoretical Linguistics and the Neuroscience of Language|date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-44280-8|edition=1|location=New York|language=en|doi=10.4324/9781315442808-2}}</ref> For example, Merge can combine the two [[Lexical analysis|lexical]] items ''drink'' and ''water'' to generate ''drink water''. In the Minimalist Program, the [[phrase]] is identified with a [[label]]. In the case of ''drink water'', the label is ''drink'' since the phrase acts as a verb. This can be represented in a typical [[concrete syntax tree|syntax tree]] as follows, with the name of the derived syntactic object (SO) determined either by the lexical item (LI) itself, or by the category label of the LI:
{| class="wikitable"
 |<!--col1-->[[Image:Minimalist Tree Drink Water.png|200px]]
 |<!--col2-->[[Image:Minimalist Tree VP.png|200px]]
 |-
 |<!--col1-->Merge (drink, water) → {drink, {drink, water} }
 |<!--col2-->Merge (drink<sub>V</sub>, water<sub>N</sub>) → {V, {drink<sub>V</sub>, water<sub>N</sub>} }
 |}
[[Merge (linguistics)|Merge]] can operate on already-built structures; in other words, it is a recursive operation. If Merge were not recursive, then this would predict that only two-word utterances are grammatical. (This is relevant for child language acquisition, where children are observed to go through a so-called "two-word" stage. This is discussed below in the implications section.) As illustrated in the accompanying tree structure, if a new head (here γ) is merged with a previously formed syntactic object (a phrase, here {α, {α, β} }), the function has the form Merge (γ, <nowiki>{α, {α, β}}</nowiki>) → <nowiki>{γ, {γ, {α, {α, β}}}}</nowiki>. Here, γ is the head, so the output label of the derived syntactic object is γ.

[[Image:Minimalist Syntax Tree 1.png|thumb|Merge (γ, <nowiki>{α, {α, β}}) → {γ, {γ, {α, {α, β}}}}</nowiki>]]

Chomsky's earlier work defines each lexical item as a syntactic object that is associated with both categorical features and selectional features.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chomsky|first=Noam|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/899496765|title=The minimalist program|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|others=Howard Lasnik|year=2015|isbn=978-0-262-32728-2|edition=20th anniversary|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|language=en|oclc=899496765}}</ref> Features—more precisely formal features—participate in feature-checking, which takes as input two expressions that share the same feature, and checks them off against each other in a certain domain.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Baltin|first=Mark R.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/437218785|title=The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory.|date=2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|others=Chris Collins|isbn=978-0-470-75635-5|location=Chichester|pages=357|oclc=437218785}}</ref> In some but not all versions of minimalism, projection of selectional features proceeds via feature-checking, as required by locality of selection:<ref name="sportiche2014">{{Cite book|last=Sportiche, Dominique|title=An introduction to syntactic analysis and theory|author2=Koopman, Hilda Judith|author3=Stabler, Edward P.|date=23 September 2013|isbn=978-1-118-47048-0|location=Hoboken|oclc=861536792}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bagchi|first=Tista|chapter=On theta role assignment by feature checking|title=Argument structure|publisher=John Benjamins|year=2007|isbn=978-90-272-3372-1|editor-last=Reuland|editor-first=Eric J.|location=Amsterdam|pages=159–174|editor-last2=Bhattacharya|editor-first2=Tanmoy|editor-last3=Spathas|editor-first3=Giorgos}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Zeijlstra|first=Hedde|chapter=Labeling, selection, and feature checking|title=Agree to Agree: Agreement in the Minimalist Programme|publisher=Language Science Press|year=2020|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Peter W.|location=Berlin|pages=31–70|doi=10.5281/zenodo.3541745|isbn=9783961102143 |editor-last2=Mursell|editor-first2=Johannes|editor-last3=Hartmann|editor-first3=Katharina}}</ref>

'''Selection as projection''': As illustrated in the bare phrase structure tree for the sentence The girl ''ate the food''; a notable feature is the absence of distinct labels (see Labels below). Relative to Merge, the selectional features of a lexical item determine how it participates in Merge:
*  '''''eat''''' The Lexical Item ''eat'' is a transitive verb, and so assigns two theta-roles (Agent, Theme). Theta-roles can be represented as D-features on V—V<sub>D,D</sub>—and these D features force the verb to merge with two DPs. As illustrated in the tree, the first application of Merge generates the Verb-Complement sequence (''ate the food''), with the DP ''the food'' in complement position. The second application of Merge generates the equivalent of a Specifier-VP sequence (''the girl ate the food''), with the DP ''the girl'' in specifier position.
* '''''PAST''''' The Lexical Item for "past tense" is represented as the feature. Tense requires the presence of a DP subject and a verb; this is notated as T<sub>D,V.</sub> (Or more precisely as T<sub>EPP:D.NOM,V</sub>. The "EPP" notation stands for "extended projection principle" feature, NOM stands for "nominative case".) Tense first merges with a V-projection, and the output then combines the DP subject ''the girl'', which, in some sense, merges twice: once within the V-projection, and once within the T-projection. (See discussion of Move below.)
*'''''C''<sub>∅</sub>''' The Lexical Item for clause-typing is a phonologically null C<sub>∅</sub>. By hypothesis, all sentences are clauses (CPs), so the root clause ''The girl ate the food'' is analyzed as CP. Given the assumption that all phrases are headed (endocentric), CP must be headed by C. C selects TP, notated as C<sub>T</sub>.

'''Feature-checking''': When a feature is "checked", it is removed.

* Merge(V,DP) checks off one of the D features of V. We see this on the intermediate V projection, where the complement position is realized by the DP ''the food.'' This D-feature is then "checked" and we can see one of the D features is removed at the intermediate V-projection. Merge(V,DP) applies a second time, and the maximal V in the tree has no D features because at this stage of the derivation both D features have been "checked". Specifically, the D feature of the intermediate V-projection is "checked" by the DP ''the girl'' in the specifier position of V.
* Merge(T,VP) checks off the V-feature of T; Merge(T,DP) checks off the D-feature of T.
* Merge(C,TP) checks off the T-feature of C.

'''Locality of selection''' ('''LOS''') is a principle that forces selectional features to participate in feature checking. LOS states that a selected element must combine with the head that selects it either as complement or specifier. Selection is local in the sense that there is a maximum distance that can occur between a head and what it selects: selection must be satisfied with the projection of the head.<ref name="sportiche2014" />

{| class="wikitable"
|<!--col1-->[[File:Bare Phrase Structure Tree.png|300x300px]]
|<!--col2-->[[File:Syntax tree - 2020-12-13T125528.676.png|300x300px]]
|-
|<!--col1-->bare phrase structure
|<!--col2-->projection as feature-checking
|}

=== Move ===
Move arises via "internal Merge".

'''Movement as feature-checking''': The original formulation of the [[extended projection principle]] states that clauses must contain a subject in the specifier position of spec TP/IP.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last=Fukui|first=Naoki|title=The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory|publisher=[[Blackwell Publishers]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0-470-75641-6|location=Oxford, UK|pages=374–408|chapter=Phrase Structure|doi=10.1002/9780470756416.ch12}}</ref> In the tree above, there is an EPP feature. This is a strong feature which forces re-Merge—which is also called internal merge—of the DP ''the girl''. The EPP feature in the tree above is a subscript to the T head, which indicates that T needs a subject in its specifier position. This causes the movement of <the girl> to the specifier position of T.<ref name="sportiche2014" />
{| class="wikitable"
|<!--col1-->[[File:EPP Feature.png|300x300px]]
|<!--col2-->[[File:Syntax tree - 2020-12-18T155558.492.png|300x300px]]
|-
|<!--col1-->uninterpretable EPP feature forces Move
|<!--col2-->uninterpretable case feature forces Move
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|<!--col1-->[[File:Syntax_tree_-_2020-12-18T161918.675.png|300x300px]]
|<!--col2-->[[File:Bare_phrase_structure;_English_sentence_with_Wh-Movement_(2).png|300x300px]]
|<!--col3-->[[File:Bare_phrase_structure;_English_sentence_with_Wh-Movement_(1).png|300x300px]]
|-
|<!--col1-->declarative clause
|<!--col2-->content question: subject
|<!--col3-->content question: object
|}