Crash-Proof Syntax

The Minimalist Program is guided by the idea that the syntactic system of the language faculty is designed to optimally meet design specifications imposed by the interface systems. In this paper we argue that an optimal derivational system, at least from a computational point of view, is a system that generates only objects that are well-formed and satisfy conditions imposed by the interface systems. We explore the feasibility of constructing such a system, one in which there is no notion of “crashing derivations”. We also argue that both the interface conditions and the derivational system which is designed to satisfy them are real, and in this sense we expect to find a pervasive redundancy in linguistic explanation. By demanding that the derivational system be crash-proof, without filters imposed on its end products, we hope to help draw the boundary between the derivational system and the interface conditions, and to make progress in understanding both.