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

186
strengthened, and the difference increased between ℜ and syntax which operates
cyclically. 133
Finally, it is left open for now how ℜ picks a particular uninterpretable feature
and how ℜ is parametrized. The formulation allows any feature to be added in
response to any failure of Full Interpretation. This will give ℜ the scope to follow
up on (281), (282) for phenomena like successive-cyclic movement in section 5.9.
The investigation of ℜ in the following sections concentrates on the Agree/Case
system. In it, it remains unclear whether phi-probes are the only probes that can
value Case or if the freedom to use other probes would lead to unwelcome possibilities.
It seems possible to leave the identity of the probe(s) ℜ that adds free.
Other considerations may decide, since the addition of a probe will lead to the
creation of phases, whose probes may themselves be partly fixed by convergence
(cf. Abels 2003). On the other hand, the need to parametrize ℜ will become clear
as we proceed, and it is formulated as a property of lexical items in section 5.9.
5.4.3 Phase theory
ℜ is set in the current theory of numerations and the objects built from them,
phases (Chomsky 1995: 4.2.1, 2000a, 2001, 2008). A numeration consists of the
building blocks of a given unit of Transfer (spell-out). It starts with an initial selection
of items from the lexicon. Through the application of syntactic operations,
its elements are progressively replaced by structures assembled from them. These
intermediate collections of constructed object and remaining lexical choices may
continue to be called the numeration, or the workspace. The eventual result of the
assembly is Transferred to the interfacing system as a phase. The construction of a
structure from one numeration may hook up with the units built and Transferred
from another, as when a verb embeds a CP. These form part of the workspace, or
numeration in an extended sense, including both the initial set of lexical choices
and objects already assembled and available. 134
Several options have been entertained in defining the unit of Transfer, the
phase, and thus the numeration from which it is constructed. Extrinsic definitions
posit that certain lexical items like C define the phase; intrinsic ones derive phasehood
(Chomsky 2000a: 106-8, Uriagereka 1999ab). I will adopt the intrinsic view
that phases are defined by Agree. The uninterpretable features valued by Agree
must be deleted on the same cycle when they are valued, since subsequently the
133 By affecting the numeration and creating a new derivational path, ℜ differs from a constraint
on the numeration that makes sure that there is a probe for every item that needs it, Heck and
Müller's (2003) Phase Balance for (281). However, the two concepts are related.
134 In this terminology, numeration replaces the lexical array of Chomsky (2000a). It seems innocuous,
since the global mechanisms of Chomsky (1995 et seq.) like Merge-over-Move hold
over what Chomsky (2000a) calls lexical arrays; contrast Heck and Müller's (2003) Phase Balance
that specifically depends on the entire numeration of a sentence, not a phase. Other work
continuously accesses the lexicon with no numeration, and uses workspace for the structures
progressively built from it (Collins 1997, 2002, Frampton and Gutmann 1999).