Construction of a theory of feature agreement in terms of covert head movement

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00664
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02080:English linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Fukuoka University of Education
• Principal Investigator: Oka Toshifusa 福岡教育大学, 教育学部, 教授 (00211805)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 素性一致 / 格 / ラベル / 位相 / 併合 / 移動 / 非顕在的主要部移動 / 束縛条件

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Under the Minimalist Program, which is the latest research program in the field of theoretical syntax of language, Noam Chomsky and others have put forth syntactic theories incorporating mechanisms such as Merge, Labeling, Phase, Transfer, and Feature Agreement. Along these lines, I introduced new perspectives and constructed a theory that explains phenomena such as Movement, Case and Binding, which have long been the main targets of research, in a more principled and unified manner.

Free Research Field

英語学・言語学（統語論）

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

人間言語（自然言語）における最も根本的な性質は「併合」（２つの要素を結合してより大きなユニットを作る操作）と考えられているが、本研究はつまるところ「併合」とはどのようなプロセスかを明らかにしようとする取り組みの一部であり、この探究の示す方向性が正しければ、究極的には言語の発生を解明することに繋がっていくものと期待される。