Examining the Minimalist Program: Merge, Transfer and Parameters

• Project/Area Number: 26770172
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science
• Principal Investigator: Obata Miki 東京理科大学, 理学部第二部教養, 准教授 (80581694)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
• Keywords: 統語論 / 生成文法 / 極小主義 / 言語学 / 国際情報交換 / 併合 / ラベル付け / インターフェイス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The research project mainly focused on the following two issues: [1] how the operation Merge is applied in the human linguistic computation and how the operation Transfer sends syntactic objects formed by Merge to the interfaces, and also [2] how cross-linguistic variation can be recaptured without appeal to the traditional concept parameters. With respect to [1], I cast light on the sets {XP,YP} and {H,H} by examining their generation and labeling. With respect to [2], I suggested through comparing various kinds of languages including Cape Verdean Creole that cross-linguistic variation can be explained by appeal to the order of rule-application.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] University of Michigan, Ann Arbor(米国)
• [Journal Article] Eliminating Parameters from the Narrow Syntax: Rule Ordering Variation by Third Factor Underspecification (2016)
  • Author(s): Obata, Miki and Samuel Epstein
  • Journal Title: Advances in Biolinguistics Volume: なし Pages: 128-138
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Can Crosslinguistically Variant Grammars be Formally Identical?: Third Factor Underspecification and the Possible Elimination of Parameters of UG (2015)
  • Author(s): Obata, Miki, Samuel Epstein and Marlyse Baptista
  • Journal Title: Lingua Volume: 156 Pages: 1-16
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Eliminating C-deletion in the Syntax: Structure Building by Merge (2016)
  • Author(s): Miki Obata
  • Organizer: 第34回日本英語学会シンポジウム
  • Place of Presentation: 金沢大学
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-12
  • Invited
• [Presentation] On Labeling: How are Labels Determined and What are Labels Needed For? (2015)
  • Author(s): 小畑美貴
  • Organizer: 福岡言語学会2015年度第3回例会
  • Place of Presentation: 福岡大学
  • Year and Date: 2015-12-19
  • Invited
• [Presentation] ラベル付と主文現象 (2015)
  • Author(s): 小畑美貴
  • Organizer: 日本英文学会東北支部第７０回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 宮城学院女子大学
  • Year and Date: 2015-11-08
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Unlabeled Syntactic Objects and their Interpretation at the Interfaces (2015)
  • Author(s): Miki Obata
  • Organizer: The 46th Annual Meeting of North East Linguistics Society
  • Place of Presentation: Concordia University, Canada
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-16
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Explaining Linguistic Variation in Minimalism: A Third-Factor Underspecification Approach (2015)
  • Author(s): 小畑美貴
  • Organizer: 慶応義塾大学言語学コロキアム
  • Place of Presentation: 慶応義塾大学
  • Year and Date: 2015-05-09
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Labeled Syntactic Objects vs. Unlabeled Syntactic Objects (2014)
  • Author(s): Obata, Miki
  • Organizer: 日本英語学会ワークショップ
  • Place of Presentation: 学習院大学
  • Year and Date: 2014-11-08 – 2014-11-09
  • Invited
• [Presentation] How to Label {H, H}: A View from Lexical V-V Compounds in Japanese (2014)
  • Author(s): Sugimura, Mina and Miki Obata
  • Organizer: The 9th International Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics
  • Place of Presentation: University of Nantes
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-25 – 2014-09-26
• [Funded Workshop] 第34回日本英語学会シンポジウム 「Unconstrained Merge: Its Consequences and Challenges」 (2015)
  • Place of Presentation: 関西外国語大学
  • Year and Date: 2015-11-21