Merge: Binarity in (Multidominant) Syntax

An argument that Merge is binary but its binarity refers to syntactic positions rather than objects.

In this book, Barbara Citko and Martina Gracanin-Y ksek examine the constraints on Merge–the basic structure-building operation in minimalist syntax–from a multidominant perspective. They maintain that Merge is binary, but argue that the binarity of Merge refers to syntactic positions Merge relates- what has typically been formulated as a constraint that prevents Merge from combining more than two syntactic objects is a constraint on Merge’s relating more than two syntactic positions.