Introducing Minimalism: A Parametric Variation

Introducing Minimalism: A Parametric Variation introduces the currently advocated syntactic theory known as Minimalism. It gives the reader a concise and precise introduction to the substantial notions and concepts made use of by Chomsky in his biological approach to the study of language and how they help minimize the linguistic machinery apparatus needed to describe natural language. Chapter 1 presents a generative approach to language acquisition. Chapter 2 tackles syntax theorization since Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures 1957 to Minimalism. Chapter 3 addresses Structural Relations and Operations. Constituent Structure/Constituency is developed in Chapter 4, and Chapter 5 addresses Features and Agreement. Chapter 6 spells out Head and Phrasal Movement, and Wh-movement is addressed in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 examines Null Categories, and Chapter 9 is devoted to Projection Split, where VP, TP, DP, CP, etc. are split, and the syntactic justifications of splitting each. The book concludes with outlining Phase theory, the latest development in syntax inquiry. Each Chapter discusses the minimalist assumptions of the syntactic phenomenon it addresses in several languages to characterize language parametrization among these languages, applying the minimalist machinery apparatus to derive, by means of phrase markers, the phrases, clauses and sentences exemplified. Each Chapter ends with a bunch of exercises, in which students have a good chance to exercise the knowledge acquired in the Chapter. Though the book is a coursebook, meant for (post)graduate students, it is also a valuable reference for syntax scholars, in general, and Arabic syntax scholars, in particular.