Press. Optimality Theory in Syntax

Optimality Theory in Syntax Géraldine Legendre Within generative approaches to syntax, OT stands as an alternative theory of constraint interaction to the Principle-and-Parameter Theory (PPT) of Universal Grammar articulated in Chomsky (1981). Comparing both theories helps understand what OT syntax is and what it is not. The fundamental claim of OT is that universal well-formedness constraints on syntactic representations are operative in all grammars but surface-violable (Prince and Smolensky, 1993). In contrast, PPT takes >universal= to mean >inviolable=, forcing universal principles to be supplemented by parameters to account for cross-linguistic variation. According to Speas (1997:184-5), inviolable principles augmented by parameters are in fact problematic as an account of cross-linguistic variation. She points out that hedges in the formulation of inviolable constraints in PPT (e.g. if ....then) has the result of restricting the domain in which principles are inviolable. She argues that all principles in the Government-Binding (GB) version of PPT have this character. Moreover, economy principles are crucially violable in the Minimalist Program (MP, Chomsky 1995). For proponents of OT, there is an immediate advantage to viewing all constraints as surface-violable. Constraints can be stated in a simple and general fashion, with the burden of the explanatory work shifted towards the conflict-based interaction among the constraints themselves. Standard OT is best known as a representational theory. This follows naturally from several properties of the system: i) It is an output-oriented theory; i.e. Con is a universal set of constraints that technically are output filters ii) Evaluation of outputs is global in the sense that output filters evaluate a single representation in parallel (as opposed to serially); iii) There are no intermediary levels of representation at which constraints are thought to operate. This is not to say that OT cannot be reconciled with a derivational approach to syntax. It not only can (Legendre, Smolensky, and Wilson 1998:285-7); it must, according to Müller (1997). Rejecting parallelism of constraint evaluation, Müller proposes an alternative view of OT syntax which incorporates derivations (as in MP) and serial optimizations. Yet, the representational view within the OT syntax community is dominant because it is the most natural one. (Historically, the advent of OT in generative phonology in the early 90's marks the transition from a derivational to a representational theory. In generative syntax, that transition had already taken place a decade or so earlier). An Optimality-Theoretic UG provides a function Gen (Generator) mapping a given input …