1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785096803321

Autore

Boeckx Cedric

Titolo

Linguistic minimalism [[electronic resource] ] : origins, concepts, methods, and aims / / Cedric Boeckx

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2006

ISBN

1-383-04419-8

0-19-151639-2

1-282-26877-5

9786612268779

1-4294-7117-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (257 p.)

Collana

Oxford linguistics

Disciplina

410

Soggetti

Minimalist theory (Linguistics)

Linguistics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Series statement from jacket.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [207]-233) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; 1 The Minimalist Gamble; 1.1 Minimalism in a nutshell; 1.2 How to approach minimalism; 1.3 Author's aims; 2 The Minimalist Roots; 2.1 The birth of modern biolinguistics; 2.2 Levels of adequacy; 2.3 The poverty of stimulus, and what must be done about it; 2.4 Computational properties of the language organ; 2.4.1 Early results; 2.4.2 Later developments; 2.4.3 Parameters; 2.5 Conclusion; 3 The Minimalist Core; 3.1 The Government-Binding model; 3.1.1 Why take Government-Binding as a starting point?; 3.1.2 Some generalizations; 3.2 Taking stock

3.3 The notion of 'program' and how it applies to minimalism 3.3.1 Program vs. theory; 3.3.2 Lakatos on research programs; 3.4 Conclusion; 4 The Minimalist Impact; 4.1 The Galilean style in science; 4.2 Why-questions; 4.3 Beauty in science; 4.4 The Galilean style and biology; 4.4.1 Linguistics as biology; 4.4.2 Two scientific cultures; 4.4.3 Back to laws of form; 4.4.4 The evolution of the language faculty; 4.4.5 Language and cognition; 4.5 Conclusion; 5 The Minimalist Highlights; 5.1 Caveat lector; 5.2 Evaluating the objections to the



program; 5.3 Specific minimalist analyses; 5.3.1 Control

5.3.2 Copies and linearization 5.3.3 A constraint on multiple wh-fronting; 5.3.4 Successive cyclicity; 5.3.5 Bare phrase structure; 5.3.6 Sluicing; 5.3.7 Parasitic gaps; 5.3.8 Existential constructions; 5.4 Conclusion; 6 The Minimalist Seduction; Glossary; References; Index;

Sommario/riassunto

This is a self-contained introduction to the Minimalist Program for linguistic theory, the boldest and most radical version of Noam Chomsky's naturalistic approach to language. Cedric Boeckx examines its foundations, explains its underlying philosophy, exemplifies its methods, and considers the significance of its empirical results. He explores the roots and antecedents of the Program and shows how its methodologies parallel those of sciences such as physics and biology. He disentangles and clarifies current debates and issues around the nature of minimalist research in linguistics and shows