Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of - UMR 7023 - CNRS

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Agree and Transfer is the response of syntax to the presence of uninterpretable
features on lexical items through the needs of Full Interpretation.
A more detailed inspection of the phi-Agree/Case system in Chomsky (2000a,
2001, 2005, 2008) illustrates one way to concretize these ideas. DPs come with interpretable,
valued phi-features, e.g. {[person:1], [number:PL]}. They also bear an
uninterpretable, unvalued [Case:] feature, a stipulated lexical property of nominals.
It needs to be valued and eliminated by Agree-cum-Transfer, which does the
work of the Case Filter of Government and Binding. The ability to value [Case:]
belongs to Agree/Case loci, including T and v, part of whose content is a valued,
interpretable [Case] feature, such as [Case:NOM] on T (Pesetsky and Torrego
2001, 2004, 2007). The loci also come with unvalued phi-features, such as {[person:],
[number:]}. They need to be valued from a DP, implementing the Inverse
Case Filter. Examples (274) and (275) illustrate these requirements. In (274),
uninterpretable Case on two primes requires Agree with the matrix Agree/Case
locus v. Locality only allows this if there is no DP in between. When the
applicative argument the group intervenes, Case on two primes is not valued and
deleted, and Full Interpretation fails. Similarly, in (275) the uninterpretable phifeatures
on the matrix T must Agree with the interpretable phi-features of a DP,
and Full Interpretation fails if they find no DP through which to be valued and
deleted. 130
(274) a. She showed (*the group) [there to be two primes-ACC in the set].
b. There were shown (*the group) [to be two primes-NOM in the set].
c. She showed (*the group) [two primes-ACC to be in the set].
d. Two primes-NOM were shown (*the group) [to be __ in the set].
(cf. e. Two primes-NOM were shown (to the group) [to be __ in the set].
f. She showed ((to) the group) [that two primes were in the set].)
(cf. Postal 1993)
(275) a. Hei has been spoken to ti about the history of Shuruppak.
b. *There/*It has been spoken about the history of Shuruppak.
The system operates cyclically. As each lexical item with an unvalued feature
is introduced into the derivation, it triggers the operation Agree. The unvalued feature,
or probe, seeks a valued feature matching its type, the goal, under the conditions
on Agree (276). Unvalued phi-features on an Agree/Case locus seek and receive
values from the closest DP, and the Case of the DP receives a value from the
locus. In this case the driving force of the system is the phi-probes. Transfer must
occur on the same timing-unit or cycle as Agree, before the knowledge that the
probe was unvalued is lost (Chomsky 2000a: 132, 2001: 5, 2008: 154f.). Agree
130 Section 5.9 returns briefly to Case Filter effects; for the phenomena that fall under the (Inverse)
Case Filter, see Pesetsky (1982: 2.5), Chomsky (1986b), Baker (1988), Chomsky and
Lasnik (1995), Bošković (1997, 2002), Lasnik (2008). For the Inverse Case Filter constraining
impersonal passives like (275)b, see Rezac (2004a: chapter 5), but cf. also Pesetsky (1982: 2.5).