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Article Accepted Manuscript

Constraining Free Merge

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Ginsburg, Jason

Abstract / Description

Some recent influential work in the Minimalist Program takes the position that Merge, the core language ability to recursively combine two elements together, is free. However, if Merge were completely free, there would be an infinite number of possible derivations for every utterance. Thus, Merge must be constrained in some way. In this paper, I describe a computer model of language that implements a limited form of Merge that is free. I attempt to demonstrate that, within the confines of the language module, Labeling is generally sufficient to constrain Free Merge, and I discuss issues that arise regarding overgeneration of syntactic structures given Free Merge.

Keyword(s)

Merge labeling syntactic structure computer modeling

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2024-09-19

Journal title

Biolinguistics

Publisher

PsychArchives

Publication status

acceptedVersion

Review status

reviewed

Is version of

Citation

Ginsburg, J. (in press). Constraining Free Merge [Accepted manuscript]. Biolinguistics. https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.15442
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Ginsburg, Jason
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2024-09-19T08:04:37Z
  • Made available on
    2024-09-19T08:04:37Z
  • Date of first publication
    2024-09-19
  • Abstract / Description
    Some recent influential work in the Minimalist Program takes the position that Merge, the core language ability to recursively combine two elements together, is free. However, if Merge were completely free, there would be an infinite number of possible derivations for every utterance. Thus, Merge must be constrained in some way. In this paper, I describe a computer model of language that implements a limited form of Merge that is free. I attempt to demonstrate that, within the confines of the language module, Labeling is generally sufficient to constrain Free Merge, and I discuss issues that arise regarding overgeneration of syntactic structures given Free Merge.
    en
  • Publication status
    acceptedVersion
  • Review status
    reviewed
  • Sponsorship
    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grants #20K00664 and #24K03964
  • Citation
    Ginsburg, J. (in press). Constraining Free Merge [Accepted manuscript]. Biolinguistics. https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.15442
  • ISSN
    1450-3417
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/10869
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.15442
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychArchives
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.14015
  • Keyword(s)
    Merge
  • Keyword(s)
    labeling
  • Keyword(s)
    syntactic structure
  • Keyword(s)
    computer modeling
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Constraining Free Merge
    en
  • DRO type
    article
  • Journal title
    Biolinguistics
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Visible tag(s)
    Accepted Manuscript