Rethinking Parameters

This collection of articles provides an overview of current generative theorizing and empirical work on the nature, origin and scope of parameters of linguistic variation. Often taking diverging views, the papers in the volume address some or all of the main debated topics in parametric syntax.

Parameters of linguistic variation were originally conceived, within the chomskyan Principles and Parameters Theory, as UG-determined options that were associated with grammatical principles and had a rich deductive structure. This characterization of parametric differences among languages has changed significantly over the years, especially so with the advent of Minimalism.
This book collects a representative sample of current generative research on the status, origin and size of parameters. Often taking diverging views, the papers in the volume address some or all of the main debated topics in parametric syntax: i.e. are parameters provided by UG, or do they constitute emergent properties arising from points of underspecification?; in which component(s) of the language faculty are parameters to be found?; do clustering effects actually hold across languages?; do macroparameters exist alongside microparameters?; are there parameter hierarchies?; which is the origin and role o f parameters in the process of language acquisition?
The volume is organized into two parts. Part I ( "The nature of variation and parameters ") brings together studies whose main goal is to discuss general issues related to parameters (or variation more generally). Part II ( "Parameters in the analysis of language variation: case studies ") includes a number of works that deal with the empirical basis and proper formulation of well-known particular parameters: the Null Subject Parameter, the NP/DP Parameter, the Compounding Parameter, the Wh-Parameter and the Analyticity Parameter.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Introduction
Luis Eguren, Olga Fernández Soriano and Amaya Mendikoetxea
Part I. The nature of variation and parameters
1. Language variability in syntactic theory
David Adger
2. Considerations pertaining to the nature of logodiversity
Cedric Boeckx
3. Deriving linguistic variation from learnability conditions: The Chunking Procedure
Adriana Fasanella and Jordi Fortuny
4. Lexical items and feature bundling: Consequences for micro-parametric approaches to variation
Ángel J. Gallego
5. Some remarks on parameter hierarchies
Ian Roberts
Part II. Parameters in the analysis of language variation: case studies
6. Parametric variation in nominal root compounding
Leah S. Bauke
7. Macroparameters break down under the weight of evidence: The "NP/DP " Parameter as a case study
Youngmi Jeong
8. The wh parameter and radical externalization
Éric Mathieu
9. The Null Subject Parameter and the lexicon in minimalist syntax
Guido Mensching and Anja Weingart
10. Rethinking parameter theory diachronically: A macrocomparative approach to the analyticization of the verbal tense-aspect systems of Brazilian Portuguese and Coptic Egyptian
Chris H. Reintges and Sonia Cyrino