Optimality Theory and the Minimalist Program

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1、OptimalityTheoryandtheMinimalistProgramVieriSamek-LodoviciItalianDepartment–UniversityCollegeLondon1IntroductionTheMinimalistProgram(Chomsky1995,2000)andOptimalityTheory(PrinceandSmolensky1993,2004)arenotalternativetheorieslogicallyinconsistentwitheachother.OptimalityTheo

2、ryisatheoryofhowuniversalconstraintsofgrammarinteract(PrinceandSmolensky1993,Grimshaw2005).Minimalism,asChomskynotes(2000:41),isaresearchprogram–notatheory–investigatingtowhatextentthelanguagefacultyprovidesanoptimaldesignforthesatisfac-tionofconditionsattheinterfacewitht

3、hesensory-motorsystem(PF)andthesystemofthought(LF).ItisthuspossibletopursueanOT-perspectiveofhumangrammarwhilemaintainingminimalistgoals,afacthighlightedbymanycon-tributorstotheDEAL2005conferenceatZAS(Berlin)ontherelationbetweenOTandMinimalismandalsoexplicitlypointedoutby

4、Chomsky(2000:141).InthispaperIarguethatanOT-approachtogrammarisactuallyessentialtominimalistinvestigations,becauseitdramaticallywidensthesetoflinguisticpropertiespotentiallyreducibletointerfaceconditionswhileatthesametimedispensingwithinterface-externallanguagespecificprov

5、isos.ThediscussionwillhopefullyalsodispelsomecommonmisconceptionsaboutOT.2CrosslinguisticVariationOneofthemostevidentempiricalpropertiesofhumanlanguageisitscrosslin-guisticvariation.Currentminimalisttheorizing–e.g.Chomsky(1995,2000)–LinguisticsinPotsdam25(2006):77–97HansB

6、roekhuisandRalfVogel(eds.):OptimalityTheoryandMinimalism:aPossibleConvergence?©2006VieriSamek-Lodovici78VieriSamek-Lodoviciexcludescrosslinguisticvariationfromthesetofpropertiesandimperfectionsthatcallforaminimalistexplanation.Variationisinsteadassumedtofollowfromdifferen

7、tiationsinthefeature-bundlesassociatedwithlexicalitemsineachlanguage'slexicon,allowingforparametricvariationinfeaturestrength(weakvsstrong)and/orvariationinfeaturedistribution(presenceofEPP-features,presenceofdislocatingfeatures).Someimportantconsequencesfollowfromthisass

8、umption:tobeginwith,variationisleftunrelatedtointerfaceconditions.Interfaceconditionsmightpos-si