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1、*EconomyofStructureinOTJaneGrimshawRutgersUniversityMay2001grimshaw@ruccs.rutgers.edu1.IntroductionManyrecentstudieshaveappealedtotheideathatlinguisticsystemsaresubjecttoeconomyofstructureorrepresentation,e.g.Chomsky1995,Rizzi1997,Bresnan2001.Theguidingideaofeconomyofstructureisthatsma
2、llstructuresarepreferredoverlargeones,otherthingsbeingequal.Otherthingsbeingequal,projectionswithfewerelementsarepreferredoverprojectionswithmoreelements,andstructurescontainingfewerprojectionsarepreferredoverstructureswithmoreprojections.Thispaperarguesthateconomyofstructureisatheorem
3、ofthetheoryofphrasestructure:nospecialprincipleneedstobepositedinordertoexplaineconomyeffects.Theargumenthastwoparts.First,conflictingalignmentconstraintspreferprojectionswithfewerelementsoverthosewithmoreelements.Second,thesetofalignmentconstraintsandconstraintsrequiringthepresenceofs
4、tructuralelements,togetherguaranteethatanyprojectioninanylanguage,incursatleastoneconstraintviolation.Thereforeastructurecontainingn+1projectionsisguaranteedtoincuratleastonemoreviolationthanthesamestructurewiththeadditionalprojectionremoved.Theconstraintsareuniversalconstraintsonthein
5、ternalstructureofprojections(basedonthoseproposedinGrimshaw1997).Theyaremotivatedbythedirectlyempiricalgoalofcharacterizingthesetofstructuraloptionsforsyntacticprojections.Essentialtotheargumentisthatthetheorypositsasetofuniversalconstraintswhichareguaranteedtoconflictineveryprojection
6、,apossibilityinherentinOptimalityTheory(PrinceandSmolensky1993).Somealternativesetsofconstraintswiththerightpropertiesarediscussedhere.Thecentralpointisthattheseconstraintsarenotinanysense“economyconstraints”;infact,individuallytheycanpreferlarger,morecomplexstructuresoversmaller,simpl
7、erones,asIwillshow.Itisthecollectiveeffectsofgeneralconstraintsonstructurewhichenforceeconomy.Thesameconstraintsentail,forthesamereasons,thatanyprojectionintowhichmovementoccurs,necessarilyviolatesatleastonemoreconstraintthantheotherwiseidenticalprojectionwithanunfilledposition.Suchs
