Minimalist Machine Derivations

Example	Instruction stream (clickable)	Notes
(28) the town where I grew up *the town up where I grew (Reviewer example)	[up,grow,[town,where_rel],'v_unerg',[i,d],'Tpast',c_rel,the]	Assume the location adverbial [where_rel town] is merged at the VP level. Both pair merge and set merge options are tested. Because extraction must take place for relativization, only the set merge option can succeed. (Pair merged adjuncts are inaccessible to probing.) [where_rel town] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. where_rel cannot value D on town. Next, town raises and its uninterpretable D feature is valued when merged with the. However, where_rel can value T (as well as Rel) on C_rel. By economy, no T-to-C (that) is possible. Finally, up does not head a PP with complement [where_rel town] (merged at VP level instead). Therefore no pied-piping is possible.
(29) the baker to place your trust in *the baker in to place your trust	[baker, d_rel, in, [ trust, '\'s', [you, d]], place, 'v*', ['PRO', d0], 'Tinf', c_rel, the]	No overt who_rel here. Covert D_rel is used instead, i.e. internal argument of in is [D_rel baker]. [D_rel baker] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. Pied-piping is not an option since D_rel is an empty category. D_rel cannot value D so baker will raise further and its uninterpretable D feature will be checked by the. Assume T on C_rel is valued by T_inf. (Note: the derivation with dyadic in begins at step 28 and concludes at step 54. Simple preposition in is tried first, but fails to converge at steps 16 and 27 for pair and set merge, respectively.)
(30) the book which inspired them *the book which that inspired them (Sag 1997: 448)	[they,d,inspire,'v*',[book,which_rel],'Tpast',c_rel,the]	Subject relative. DP [book, which_rel] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. By economy, which_rel values both T and Rel on C_rel, and the T-to-C option is impossible, i.e. *which that. However, which_rel cannot value D so book will raise further and D is valued during the merge with the.
(31) the person whose mother died (Sag 1997: 448)	[mother, '\'s', [person, who_rel], die, 'v~unacc', 'Tpast', c_rel, the]	Assume whose here is who_rel + 's and die is unaccusative, i.e. [[who_rel person]['s mother]] is theta-merged at the internal argument position. Furthermore, permit Rel on C_rel to find Rel on who_rel at the edge of possessive 's. [[who_rel person]['s mother]] is attracted to the edge of C_rel. However, who_rel cannot value D on person. Next, person raises and its uninterpretable D feature is valued when merged with the.
(32) the person whose mother's dog died (Sag 1997: 448)	[dog, '\'s', [mother, '\'s', [person, who_rel]], die, 'v~unacc', 'Tpast', c_rel, the]	Analysis is the same as for (31) above, except we permit Rel on C_rel to recursively look for Rel at the edge of possessive 's. Internal argument is [[[who_rel person] 's mother]['s dog]].
(33) the person whose mother's dog we were (all) fond of (33') the person whose mother's dog that we were (all) fond of (33") the person of whose mother's dog we were (all) fond (33"') the person of whose mother's dog that we were (all) fond (Sag 1997: 448)	[dog, '\'s', [mother, '\'s', [person, who_rel]],of,fond,[we,d],v_be,'Tpast',c_rel,the]	[[[who_rel person] 's mother]['s dog]] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. We assume, following (32), that Rel on C_rel can find recursively Rel at the edge of possessive 's. who_rel cannot value D on person. Next, person raises and its uninterpretable D feature is valued when merged with the. (33') is predicted as [[[who_rel person] 's mother]['s dog]] is not a nominative subject, so economy does not apply. The option of T-to-C generates the complementizer that. (33") and (33"') are blocked by a spellout rule *of who, designed to block *the girl of who friends bought the cake.
(34) the person to whom they dedicated the building the person to whom they dedicated the building (Sag 1997: 448)	[person,who_rel,to,[building,the],dedicate,'v*',[they,d],'Tpast',c_rel,the]	We assume dyadic to, i.e. the VP is [dedicate [[the building] [to [who_rel person]]]]. [who_rel person] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. who_rel cannot value D on person. Next, person raises and its uninterpretable D feature is valued when merged with the. Pied-piping is permitted as who_rel is overt. Note: after the two successful derivations, at step 41, the system tries unsuccessfully to employ monadic to with [dedicate [to [who_rel person]]]. The problem is the merge of [the building]. At step 48, the attempted XP-YP pair merge of [the building] fails. At step 59, the corresponding XP-YP set merge fails. After that, there are a further two parallel attempts pushing [to [who_rel person]] onto the stack.
(35) [This is] the senator to whose mother's friend's sister's favorite charity the lobbyist had donated a small fortune (35') [This is] the senator to whose mother's friend's sister's favorite charity that the lobbyist had donated a small fortune (35") [This is] the senator whose mother's friend's sister's favorite charity the lobbyist had donated a small fortune to (35"') [This is] the senator to whose mother's friend's sister's favorite charity that the lobbyist had donated a small fortune	[charity,favorite,'\'s',[sister,'\'s',[friend,'\'s',[mother,'\'s',[senator,who_rel]]]],to,[small,fortune,a],donate,'v*',[lobbyist,the],'Tpast',c_rel,the]	Similar derivation to example (34). We wh-relativize senator from the lobbyist donated a small fortune to the senator's mother's friend's sister's favorite charity. [[[[[who_rel senator]['s mother]]['s friend]]['s sister]]['s favorite charity]] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. who_rel cannot value D, so senator will raise further to form a new head. Determiner the merges with the NP headed by senator, valuing D on senator. There are four parses as the options of inserting the complementizer that and the pied-piping of prepositional to are both freely available.
(36) someone on whom to rely *?someone who to rely on (Reviewer example, reviewer judgement)	[someone, who_rel, on, rely, 'v*', ['PRO', d0], 'Tinf', c_rel, d]
(37) someone to rely on *someone on to rely (Reviewer example)	[someone, d_rel, on, rely, 'v*', ['PRO', d0], 'Tinf', c_rel, d]	[D_rel someone] is attracted to the edge of C_rel by Rel on C_rel. D_rel cannot value D, so someone will raise further. T_inf checks T on C_rel. (D_rel cannot value T on C_rel, T is valued by T_inf instead. Pied-piping is blocked by the empty determiner D_rel. (Note: this lexicon contains both simple prepositional on and dyadic on, e.g. put the book on the shelf. Step 17 onwards using dyadic on fails to derive.)
(38) someone for you to rely on *someone on for you to rely (Reviewer example)	[someone, d_rel, on, rely, 'v*', [you, d], 'Tinf', for, c_rel, d]	Assume complementizer for generally licenses an overt subject, you, by assigning Case, cf. PRO in (37). C_rel, containing Rel, piggy-backs onto for, attracting [D_rel someone] to its edge. Covert D_rel in [on [D_rel someone]] incompatible with pied-piping of on. As described in (37), someone will raise further and merge with covert d.