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THE LINGUISTICS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK 158
* [ � … [ � … e i …] ]
where �, � are bounding categories (NP, IP) and e i is free in �.
Tensed S Condition
See Specified Subject Condition.
�-Criterion/Theta-Criterion
In the formulation from Chomsky (1981: 36), this constraint states that: ‘Each
argument bears one and only one �-role. Each �-role is assigned to one and only
one argument.’
Uniformitarian Principle
The Uniformitarian Principle is borrowed from geology, and was apparently
first formulated as early as 1785 by James Hutton. Briefly, it states that the
forces which have always operated are precisely the forces which can be seen
to be applying now, or, as phrased by Labov (1972: 275), ‘We posit that the
forces operating to produce linguistic change today are of the same kind and
order of magnitude as those which operated in the past five or ten thousand
years.’
Uniformity of Theta Assignment Hypothesis (UTAH)
This is formulated by Baker (1988: 46) as: ‘Identical thematic relationships
between items are represented by identical structural relationships between
those items at the level of D-structure.’
Unitary Base Hypothesis
According to Aronoff (1976: 48), ‘[T]he syntacticosemantic specification of
the base [in a process of derivational morphology], though it may be more or
less complex, is always unique. A W[ord] F[ormation] R[ule] will never operate
on either this or that.’
Unitary Output Hypothesis
Following from the Unitary Base Hypothesis, Scalise (1984: 137) proposes a
Unitary Output Hypothesis which ‘does not allow a particular phonological
form to be considered a single affix if it produces outputs with different category
labels or different semantics.’