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

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distinction between valued uninterpretable and interpretable features is lost
(Chomsky 2000a: 131, 2001: 5, 2008: 154f., Epstein and Seely 2002). Yet other
operations might or might not be allowed to take place on the same cycle as
Agree, in parallel with it; for instance, while T Agrees the CP layer might be
Merged and embed it (Chomsky 2001, 2007, 2008, Hiraiwa 2010). We will have
occasion to return to this issue for ℜ. 135
The construction of a syntactic object from the numeration terminates in its
Transfer to the interfacing systems. In the model of Chomsky (2000a), (284), the
lexical item that triggers Transfer (upon Agree), the head of the phase H, sends its
complement γ to the external systems: H Transfers γ. The Transferred material γ is
removed from syntax and becomes invisible to it. This invisibility is the Phase
Impenetrability Condition. The specifiers of the H, β in (284), are not Transferred
with γ. They belong to the edge of the phase that remains visible to operations in
the next higher phase, to α and Z, to be Transferred with it. This edge remains accessible
for inclusion in objects constructed from other numerations, such as that
of Z/α in (284). The edge of a completed phase remains in the workspace, into
which the next numeration places its initial selection of lexical items, and in which
assembly proceeds (Chomsky 2000a: 106).
(284) For [ZP Z α [HP β [ H γ]]] (Z, H phase-heads): α, Z see only β, H.
The head of the phase, H, ought to be Transferred with its complement, because
it is H's valued uninterpretable features that need to be deleted. However, H
ought to also remain visible to selection from the higher phase. Richards (2007)
and Chomsky (2007, 2008) resolve this tension by giving each phase a pair of
heads in a selectional relationship, such as C-T. The lower head (T) Agrees and
undergoes Transfer, and the higher head (C) remains at the edge. An alternative is
that Transfer strips the valued features from the phase head and leaves the interpretable
ones. Here it will principally matter that Agree triggers Transfer.
When the complement of a phase-head Transfers and fails to meet Full Interpretation,
ℜ can modify the numeration of the current phase by adding an uninterpretable
feature to its elements, up to and including the edge and head of any embedded
phase. For Z in (284), this is α, β, H but not γ, which has already been
Transferred. In this, ℜ differs from (281), (282) where only the current phase-head
Z may be given a feature.
135 The notion of the cycle for this purpose is to be distinguished from other uses of the term. For
instance, the Earliness Principle might require a probe to Agree upon Merge, or as soon as possible
in the derivation, or while it is the label, which will dynamically restrict its search-space to
certain objects such as its sister or its maximal projection. This is does not say anything about the
possibility of building up other structures or the Agree of other probes at the same time, so a
probe on T can be restricted to the TP while contemporaneously (co-cyclically) C is Merged with
the TP and its probe builds [Spec, CP]. For discussion of the search-space of a probe, cf. Chomsky
(1995: e.g. 234f., 2000a: 132ff.), Richards (1999), Rezac (2003), Béjar and Rezac (2009).