Abstract
This paper is part of an ongoing study which seeks to unify two basic hypotheses given serious consideration in the ‘principles and parameters’ framework.1 One hypothesis, in its strongest form, ‘generalized X-bar theory’, holds that all categories project to phrases, including functional elements traditionally analyzed as specifiers (Abney 1987). The other proposal, from Chomsky (1986b), claims that the same phrasal boundaries which block government figure in barring movement. Here I will attempt to subsume generalized X-bar theory under a more generally ‘free’ X-bar theory and then focus on the nature of Wh-movement, including the possible structural effect of specificity on it, given such a system of phrase structure.
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Leffel, K. (1991). Free X-Bar Theory, Specificity, and Wh-Movement. In: Leffel, K., Bouchard, D. (eds) Views on Phrase Structure. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3196-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3196-4_7
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