关键词: 强势最简命题; 可逆句; 可学性; 普适性; 可进化性; 合并

Abstract:

The Strong Minimalist Thesis of Generative Grammar posits that the Merge operation, in alignment with the economy principle, is conducive to deleting unnecessary elements in the course of language externalization. Consistent with such biological themes, it is inappropriate to use theta terms like AGENT/PATIENT to describe the semantic roles of the NPs (noun phrases) in Yi guo fan chi wu ge ren /Wu ge ren chi yi guo fan. This is because the relevant NPs are not the S-selected arguments of the relevant verbs; in such structures, the NPs are actually C-selected by the quantifier head of distribution Mei, which is responsible for the structures’ core semantics. Quantifier phrases that denote measurement are obligatory in this type of structure, whereas any definite NPs may undermine the core theta content of such sentences, which can be described as having a “for/use” meaning with corresponding variants. The absence of a quantifier head may create difficulty in terms of the perception and comprehension of such structures during communication; the verbs are optional due to their function as adjuncts. An analysis based on the local asymmetric C-command indicates that various sequences in linearity may be derived from the same structural configuration, thereby manifesting the Strong Minimalist Thesis’ three criteria of learnability, universality, and evolvability. The novel contribution of this article resides in its conjecture that such clauses can be categorized as a subtype of imperative sentences, whose noun phrases are inherently assigned partitive cases due to their number-denoting nature.

Keywords: Strong Minimalist Thesis; flip-flop sentences; learnability; universality; evolvability; Merge