ORDER IN PHRASE STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENT

This article proposes the following mechanism of Merge, modifying and incorporating the effect of the head parameter: K = {gamma, [alpha, be ta]}, where gamma is an element of {a, beta} a. gamma = alpha: head-in itial, left-headed b. gamma = beta: head-final, right-headed It is arg ued that under the parameterized version of Merge, traditional ''adjun ction'' operations (scrambling and heavy NP shift) are characterized a s substitution in the sense that they always accompany the projection of the target, whereas traditional ''substitution'' operations (wh-mov ement and NP-movement) are analyzed as genuine adjunction. It is then shown that numerous empirical consequences follow from this theory of phrase structure and movement, including (a) the nature and distributi on of optional movements, (b) an elegant account of some peculiar prop erties of specifiers, and (c) a new unification of adjunct and subject condition effects, with a natural explanation of the parametric varia tion associated with the latter effect.