Abstract
In Chomsky's Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory (MPLT), movement is
constrained by a locality theory on chain-links.1 Briefly stated, it is assumed that
a constituent y may cross any position (3 and move to a position a, as long as á
and â are equidistant from 7. As Chomsky demonstrates, this locality theory has
several highly desirable consequences. However, Chomsky restricts his
discussion to examples in the present tense, and at first sight it seems that his
proposal does not carry over to the complex tenses. From this, several students
have concluded that Chomsky's locality theory should be abandoned (Zwart
1993). In this article, however, we will adopt Chomsky's proposal and
investigate the consequences for the description of the perfect tense. Further, we
will briefly address the question whether the auxiliaries should be considered as
semantically vacuous or not.
constrained by a locality theory on chain-links.1 Briefly stated, it is assumed that
a constituent y may cross any position (3 and move to a position a, as long as á
and â are equidistant from 7. As Chomsky demonstrates, this locality theory has
several highly desirable consequences. However, Chomsky restricts his
discussion to examples in the present tense, and at first sight it seems that his
proposal does not carry over to the complex tenses. From this, several students
have concluded that Chomsky's locality theory should be abandoned (Zwart
1993). In this article, however, we will adopt Chomsky's proposal and
investigate the consequences for the description of the perfect tense. Further, we
will briefly address the question whether the auxiliaries should be considered as
semantically vacuous or not.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Linguistics in The Netherlands 1995 |
| Editors | Marcel Den Dikken, Kees Hengeveld |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing |
| Pages | 37-48 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 1995 |
Keywords
- perfect tense
- auxiliaries
- locality