Is the Best Good Enough? Optimality and Competition in Syntax [Hardcover]

Pilar Barbosa (Editor), Danny Fox (Editor), Paul Hagstrom (Editor), Martha McGinnis (Editor), David Pesetsky (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0262024489 | ISBN-13: 978-0262024488

Developments in linguistic theory have led to a reconsideration of the role of optimality in the overall architecture of the grammar. Emerging from this research is the idea that different components of the grammar interact to yield the best choice from a set of candidate derivations. This idea departs from traditional approaches to the output of linguistic levels in generative grammar, in which rules, principles and constraints interact to determine the grammatical status of each linguistic object independent of the status of possible competitors. Interest in the linguistic role of optimality has been sparked by the sharpened notions of "economy" in Chomsky's minimalist programme and by Prince and Smolensky's optimality theory, originally developed for phonology. Work on these ideas has raised many questions. These include versions of an old debate between constraints on derivations and constraints on representations and entirely new questions about the nature of the candidate set, as well as questions about learnability and computability. Writing from a broad range of empirical and theoretical perspectives, the contributors to this volume examine the role of competition in syntax and in syntactic interfaces with semantics, phonology and pragmatics, as well as implications for language acquisition and processing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pilar Barbosa is at the University of Minho, Portugal. Danny Fox, Paul Hagstrom, Martha McGinnis, and David Pesetsky are all in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (April 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262024489
• ISBN-13: 978-0262024488
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,003,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)