Is linguistic variation entirely linguistic?

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2021

Department/School

English Language and Literature

Publication Title

A Minimalist Theory of Simplest Merge

Abstract

This chapter examines how and if three different frameworks – Obata, Epstein, and Baptista (2015), Obata and Epstein (2016), Chomsky (2015, 2020), and Epstein, Kitahara, and Seely (2016) – are able to account for language variation as illustrated by Kilega agreement phenomena, English Tough-Constructions, Kisongo Maasai (D-to-C movement) and English (T-to-C movement). A central question is this: “If UG and 3rd factor are invariant, how can I-language variation, i.e. linguistic variation, possibly be explained, without appeal to language specific, linguistic parameters, within UG?” This paper argues that variation occurs in the order of rule application in the narrow syntax (contra Berwick and Chomsky’s restriction of all variation to the PF component) because 3rd factor leaves certain orders unspecified, allowing more than one optimal type, hence allowing variation in I-languages. Children acquire the ordering specific to their native language based on environmental input (externalized linguistic acoustic disturbances, or manual gestures for sign, which, when input into UG and 3rd factor, determine a specific rule ordering or orderings).

Comments

T. D. Seely is a faculty member in EMU's Department of English Language and Literature.

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