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Minimalisme et variation syntaxique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Juvénal Ndayiragije
Juvénal Ndayiragije*
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
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Abstract

This article argues for a very restrictive theory of feature checking whereby only formal features of functional heads need to be checked for convergence. This theory, which enables us to dispense with most of the economy conditions assumed within the minimalist program (Chomsky 1995), is empirically supported by two syntactically and semantically related constructions in Kirundi: the Subject-Object Reversal and the Transitive Expletive Constructions. On parametric grounds, we argue that such constructions derive from the existence in Kirundi of a TP-internal focus projection whose [+focus] feature must be checked for convergence.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article propose une théorie restrictive de vérification des traits selon laquelle seules les catégories fonctionnelles doivent vérifier leurs traits formels pour qu’une dérivation converge. Cette théorie a pour conséquence l’élimination de la plupart des principes d’économie formulés dans le programme minimaliste (Chomsky 1995). Ses motivations empiriques viennent de deux constructions attestées en kirundi et non en français ou en anglais: la construction à inversion Sujet-Objet et la construction impersonnelle transitive. L’existence de ces deux constructions syntaxiquement et sémantiquement reliées est dérivée de l’existence, en kirundi, d’une projection focus interne à TP dont le trait [+focus] doit être vérifié pour qu’il y ait convergence.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 43 , Special Issue 01 1: Grammaire et variation , March 1998 , pp. 65 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1998

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