Move a: Conditions on Its Application and Output

This contribution to modern syntactic theory elaborates a principles-and-parameters framework in which the differences and similarities among languages with respect to WH-questions can be captured. Move Alpha is part of an overall programme, initiated by Noam Chomsky, to create a global theory in which the entire transformational component can be reduced to a single process, Move alpha . Lasnik and Saito are concerned particularly with bounding requirements on movement (subjacency) and proper government requirements on traces (the empty category principle). The first two chapters present and extend the ideas proposed in the author’s earlier article, On the Nature of Proper Government . Included are detailed discussions of gamma-marking, the general rule Affect alpha, and the definition of proper government, particularly as these relate to WH constructions. The next two chapters propose a modification of Chomsky’s Barriers Theory on the basis of a close examination of topicalization and examine the consequences of the modified theory. The discussion extends to restrictions on possible antecedent governors and the implications for quantifier raising and NP-movement of these restrictions. Consequences for superiority are also considered, and a modified version of this condition is proposed, as is an extension of Chomsky’s Uniformity Condition. The final chapter takes up further theoretical issues and alternative approaches.