Norbert Hornstein Books

Essays present explicit syntactic analyses that adhere to programmatic minimalist guidelines.The essays in this book present explicit syntactic analyses that adhere to programmatic minimalist guidelines. Thus they show how the guiding ideas of minimalism can shape the construction of a new, more explanatory theory of the syntactic component of the human language faculty.ContributorsZeljko Boskovic, Samuel David Epstein, Robert Freidin, Erich M. Groat, Norbert Hornstein, Hisatsugu Kitahara, Howard Lasnik, Roger Martin, Jairo Nunes, Norvin Richards, Juan Uriagereka, Amy WeinbergCurrent Studies in Linguistics No. 32

Focusing on the Merge Hypothesis, this book provides an accessible overview of the Minimalist Program (MP) in syntactic theory, challenging decades of Generative research. It introduces the Fundamental Principle of Grammar, emphasizing the importance of labels in the Merge Operation and the role of constituents in syntactic structures. Early chapters outline the MP's goals, tracing their origins in the mentalist tradition of Generative Grammar and suggesting avenues for future development. This work is crucial for those studying modern syntactic theory.

This book locates the Minimalist Program (MP) in the larger Generative enterprise. It shows how MP follows from this larger Chomskyan program and extends it by adopting a principle, the Fundamental Principle of Grammar, that requires all grammatical dependencies be Merge Mediated. It should amuse anyone interested in contemporary syntactic theory.