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

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(279) Numeration: The numeration is the interface between the syntax and the
lexicon: a one-time selection of lexical items to which syntactic operations
apply up to Transfer. Syntax does not otherwise access the lexicon.
Chomsky (1995: 294, 377) proposes the global principle (280) that is a good
starting point for the mechanism of PCC repairs. It compares the structures constructible
from a numeration enriched or not with an element α, and licenses the
enrichment only if it has an effect on PF or LF, including convergence. The reference-set
is the set of structures built from a given numeration that have the same
output; the metric picks the structure without α if there is one.
(280) (76) α enters the numeration only if it has an effect on output.
With regard to the PF level, effect can be defined in terms of literal identity:
two outputs are the same if they are identical in phonetic form, and α
is selected only if it changes phonetic form. At the LF level the condition
is perhaps slightly weaker, allowing a narrow and readily computable
form of logical equivalence to be interpreted as identity. Under (76), the
reference set is still determined by the numeration, but output conditions
enter into determination of the numeration itself; they affect the operation
that constructs the numeration from the lexicon.
(Chomsky 1995: 294)
A key use of principle (280) in Chomsky (1995) is to add a feature to drive
covert quantifier movement, which Fox (2000) and Reinhart (2006) argue to take
place only if not logically vacuous. The feature is added only if it has an effect on
LF. Krifka (1998) develops a parallel analysis for scrambling in German if it has
an effect on focus assignment at PF. Chomsky's (2000a: 109f., 2001: 34) subsequent
use of similar principles in (281), (282) is restricted to such cases. In them α
is always an uninterpretable feature, a probe. The principles license the addition of
a probe if operations driven by it affect PF or LF. The formulations differ from
(280) in adding the probe to the edge of a given structure built out of a numeration,
the phase, rather than to the numeration itself.
(281) (24) The head H of a phase Ph may be assigned an EPP-feature. [Note:]
Parametrically varying properties of H enter into the application of [this
principle].
One might also explore a generalization of the idea that operations can
apply only if they have an effect on outcome […] This would translate
here into restricting (24) to the condition in which it permits IFM [Indirect
Feature Movement, i.e. successive-cyclic movement] or specific interpretations
associated with peripheral positions (e.g., specificity and informational
conditions on OS [Object Shift]).
(Chomsky 2000a: 109f., 144 note 50)