Rule Ordering in Syntax

E. S. Williams III, 1974

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The aim of the work is to explain why rules are ordered in the way that they are.  For instance, why is Dative movement ordered before Passive, and Passive before WH-movement (Question formation)?  The initial observation is that the maximal domains within which these rules apply are small or large, depending on whether the rule is late or early.  Thus, Dative Movement has the Predicate Phrase as its domain, Passive has the domain S, and WH-movement has the domani S’, where S’ à COMP – S – X.  Four domains are established, VP, Pred Phrase, S, and S’, and the claim tested is that all rules that have a given domain as their maximal domain of application are ordered before all rules of any larger domain.  Evidence is presented that in the domain Pred Phrase ordering does not obtain, and an attempt at a principled account of ordering that does obtain among rules of domain S is made.

Thesis supervisor:         Noam Chomsky

Table of Contents

Chapter 1                                                                                                                     5

Footnotes                                                                                                                     27

Chapter 2                                                                                                                     28

Footnotes                                                                                                                     111

Chapter 3                                                                                                                     112

Footnotes                                                                                                                     190

Chapter 4                                                                                                                     191

Footnotes                                                                                                                     247