The Limits of Syntactic Variation: (132 Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today)

Against the background of the past half century’s typological and generative work on comparative syntax, this volume brings together 16 papers considering what we have learned and may still be able to learn about the nature and extent of syntactic variation. More specifically, it offers a multi-perspective critique of the Principles and Parameters approach to syntactic variation, evaluating the merits and shortcomings of the pre-Minimalist phase of this enterprise and considering and illustrating the possibilities opened up by recent empirical and theoretical advances. Contributions focus on four central topics: firstly, the question of the locus of variation, whether the attested variation may plausibly be understood in parametric terms and, if so, what form such parameters might take; secondly, the fate of one of the most prominent early parameters, the Null Subject Parameter; thirdly, the matter of parametric clusters more generally; and finally, acquisition issues.

Table of Contents:
1. Preface & Acknowledgements; 2. Introduction; 3. I. The locus of (parametric) variation; 4. Parametric versus functional explanations of syntactic universals (by Haspelmath, Martin); 5. Three fundamental issues in parametric linguistics (by Gianollo, Chiara); 6. On the syntactic flexibility of formal features (by Zeijlstra, Hedde); 7. Expletives, datives, and the tension between morphology and syntax (by Kayne, Richard S.); 8. Mapping a parochial lexicon onto a universal semantics (by Ramchand, Gillian); 9. Aspect matters in the middle (by Lekakou, Marika); 10. II. A classic parameter revisited: the null-subject parameter; 11. The null subject parameter and correlating properties: The case of Creole languages (by Nicolis, Marco); 12. The Case-F valuation parameter in Romance (by Fernandez-Salgueiro, Gerardo); 13. Silent arguments without pro: The case of Basque (by Duguine, Maia); 14. Case morphology and radical pro-drop (by Neeleman, Ad); 15. III. Parametric clustering; 16. The macroparameter in a microparametric world (by Baker, Mark C.); 17. Topic prominence and null subjects (by Modesto, Marcello); 18. Non-configurationality: Free word order and argument drop in Turkish (by Ozturk, Balkiz); 19. Diachronic stability and feature interpretability (by Panagiotidis, E. Phoevos); 20. III. The acquisition of parameters; 21. Can children tell us anything we did not know about parameter clustering? (by Avram, Larisa); 22. Parameter setting and input reduction (by Evers, Arnold Ernest); 23. Index