Labeling through Spell-Out

• Published in: Linguistic review 2016-02, Vol.33 (1), p.177-198
• Main Authors: Takita, Kensuke, Goto, Nobu, Shibata, Yoshiyuki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: binary branching; Chomsky, Noam; labeling; Linguistics; minimal search; Minimalist program; Redundancy; Small clauses; Spell-Out; Syntax
• ISSN: 0167-6318; 1613-3676
• DOI: 10.1515/tlr-2015-0018

This paper proposes that a particular conception of the Spell-Out operation provides a hitherto unnoticed way of determining a label of otherwise unlabeled syntactic objects. It is shown that this proposal simplifies the grammar and gains several theoretical and empirical consequences, eliminating certain unnecessary complications in Chomsky’s ( ) framework where some instances of movement are forced by the need to label. More specifically, we point out that Chomsky’s basic idea behind the implementation of labeling through movement, which assumes that a copy left behind by movement is invisible to minimal search, is not only incompatible with the copy theory of movement but also violates the No Tampering Condition. We also point out that his claim that movement is required for labeling has a redundancy problem regarding the motivation of movement, which should be avoided in the Minimalist Program. Then, we argue that the problems are easily solved if we ensure that a singleton set left after the application of Spell-Out is automatically converted into its single member. The proposed system of labeling that makes use of Spell-Out not only removes some unnecessary complications of but also gives several novel answers to classical questions concerning the binarity of phrase structures and the structures of small clauses and -constructions.