Principled probability in syntax: A Minimalist approach to variability and cumulativity in phrasal movement
Keywords: Word order, variability, cumulativity, Cherokee, information structure, Minimalism, Harmonic Grammar
TL;DR: Probabilistic and cumulative phrasal movement patterns support integrating Minimalist representations with constraint-based computation
Abstract: The relevance of probabilistically variable patterns has long been controversial in linguistic theory, historically led by two dominant schools. On the first view, which I call Principles Without Probability, variable patterns are outside the purview of formal theories of grammar, composed solely of categorical principles (Newmeyer 2003). The second view, Probability Without Principles, holds that unit and collocation frequencies form the basis of mental representations, and denies the existence of formal categories (Bybee and Hopper 2001). I argue that these approaches should be reconciled in a theory with Principles and Probabilities: Language is mentally represented as a generative system with formal categories and principles, as well as probability distributions over possible structures. I illustrate this approach with an analysis of word order variability in Cherokee that integrates Minimalist derivations with constraint-based optimization (Heck and Müller 2003), specifically the probabilistic computation of optimality of Maximum Entropy Harmonic Grammar (Goldwater & Johnson 2003). This approach expands the predictive and explanatory power of generative Minimalism to a broader range of word order phenomena, while maintaining its insights about the feature-driven nature of movement.
Submission Number: 193
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