Specificity‐driven Syntactic Derivation

Abstract

Abstract Specificity is arguably one of the main basic concepts of morphological theory (Subset Principle). This chapter proposes that the concept of specificity is at work in syntax, too, and it is a much more powerful underlying syntactic principle than previously thought. The chapter shows that syntactic derivations are driven by a specificity principle: an element X is more specific than an element Y iff X has more (matching) features than Y. The new principle yields all relative locality effects excluding the superiority case, as it does not draw on availability of search space, but on competition between potential goals. The specificity principle also accounts for several anti-MLC effects, such as order-preserving movement and anti-superiority effects, previously accounted for by independent, partially overlapping principles. The system works without intervention by closeness. The chapter is programmatic, offers a new perspective on intervention, and aims at renewing discussion about the nature of locality.

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