Minimalist Machine Derivations

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Examples:

  • Basic sentence patterns: collapse
    Example Stream of heads (click + ⇇Send) Notes
    (1) John saw Mary [mary, d, see, 'v*', [john, d], 'Tpast', c] One derivation.
    Transitive sentence: v* values acc Case, has edge θ-position.
    (2) John runs [run, 'v_unerg', [john, d], 'T', c] One derivation.
    Unergative sentence: vunerg has an edge θ-position.
    (3) A man arrives [man, a, arrive, 'v~unacc', 'T' ,c] One derivation.
    Unaccusative sentence: v~unacc values θ and has an edge feature. (See Sobin examples.)
    (4) There arrived a man [man, a, arrive,'v~unacc', there, 'Tpast', c] One derivation.
    Expletive unaccusative construction: v~unacc values θ and edge feature satisfied by Merge of there.
    (5) John was arrested [john, d, arrest, prt, 'v~', 'Tpast' ,c] One derivation.
    Passive sentence: v* replaced by v~ and prt. v~ values θ. (See Sobin examples.) Passive participle prt has unvalued Case and ɸ. (See Derivation by Phase examples.)
    (6) Who saw John? [john, d, see, 'v*', [who, q], 'Tpast', c_Q] One derivation.
    Subject wh-question: CQ has unvalued Wh and T (simultaneously) valued by corresponding features on who. (See Pesetsky & Torrego examples.)
    (7) What does John see? [what:n, q, see, 'v*', [john, d], 'T', c_Q] One derivation.
    Object wh-question: CQ has unvalued Wh and T valued from what and (head of) T, respectively. (See Pesetsky & Torrego examples.)
    (8) Who arrived? [who, q, arrive,'v~unacc', 'Tpast', c_Q] One derivation.
    Unaccusative wh-question: CQ Wh and T simultaneously valued by who. (See Pesetsky & Torrego examples.)
    • Machine Parameters: expand

    Animation:
    (6) Who saw John?

    Derivation:
    (6) Who saw John?

    Stream:[[john!D],[d!case!N],[see],[v*!phi],[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope]],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[]

    Step 1.

    Head of stream [john!D] is the initial SO
    Stream:[[d!case!N],[see],[v*!phi],[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope]],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[john!D]

    Step 2.

    Merge [d!case!N] and [john!D]
    Label from [d!case!N] (syntactic head with an unvalued uF)
    Inherit interpretable feature(s) [f(phi,[3,sg,n])] from [john!D]
    [d!case!N] values D on [john!D]
    [john] values N on [d!case!N]
    Stream:[[see],[v*!phi],[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope]],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[d!case[d][john]]

    Step 3.

    Merge [see] and [d!case[d][john]]
    Label from [see] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    Theta-mark [d!case[d][john]]
    Push [d!case[d][john]] (unvalued uF) onto stack
    Stream:[[v*!phi],[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope]],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[d!case[d][john]]
    SO:[see[see][d!case[d][john]]]

    Step 4.

    Merge [v*!phi] and [see[see][d!case[d..][john..]]]
    Label from [v*!phi] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [d!case[d][john]] values uPhi on [v*!phi]
    [v*] values acc case on [d!case[d][john]]
    Stream:[[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope]],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[d[d][john]]
    SO:[v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]

    Step 5.

    Begin substream
    Stream:[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[]

    Step 6.

    Head of stream [who!D] is the initial SO
    Stream:[[q!case!N!scope]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[who!D]

    Step 7.

    Merge [q!case!N!scope] and [who!D]
    Label from [q!case!N!scope] (syntactic head with an unvalued uF)
    Inherit interpretable feature(s) [f(phi,[3,sg,n])] from [who!D]
    [q!case!N!scope] values D on [who!D]
    [who] values N on [q!case!N!scope]
    Stream:[]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    End substream, SO [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]] re-inserted into main stream

    Step 8.

    Stream:[[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[d[d][john]]
    SO:[v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]

    Step 9.

    Merge [v*[v*][see[see..][d..]]] and [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Label from [v*[v*][see[see..][d..]]] (edge feature)
    Theta-mark [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Push [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]] (unvalued uF) onto stack
    Stream:[[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    [d[d][john]]
    SO:[v*[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]][v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]]

    Step 10.

    Merge [Tpast!phi!v] and [v*[q!case!scope[q..][who..]][v*[v*..][see..]]]
    Label from [Tpast!phi!v] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]] values uPhi on [Tpast!phi!v]
    [Tpast!v] values nom case on [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Relativized TOS search for iF(v) skipping [q!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Relativized TOS search for iF(v) skipping [d[d][john]]
    [Tpast!v] attracts [v*[q!scope[q..][who..]][v*[v*..][see..]]]
    Merge [Tpast[Tpast][v*[q..][v*..]]] and [v*]
    Label from [Tpast[Tpast][v*[q..][v*..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[q!scope[q!scope][who]]
    [d[d][john]]
    SO:[Tpast[v*][Tpast[Tpast][v*[q!scope[q!scope][who]][v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]]]]

    Step 11.

    Internal merge selected
    Merge [Tpast[v*][Tpast[Tpast..][v*..]]] and [q!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Label from [Tpast[v*][Tpast[Tpast..][v*..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[q!scope[q!scope][who]]
    [d[d][john]]
    SO:[Tpast[q!scope[q!scope][who]][Tpast[v*][Tpast[Tpast][v*[q!scope[q!scope][who]][v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]]]]]

    Step 12.

    Merge [cQ!wh!T] and [Tpast[q!scope[q..][who..]][Tpast[v*..][Tpast..]]]
    Label from [cQ!wh!T] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [q!scope[q!scope][who]] values wh on [cQ!wh!T]
    [q!scope[q!scope][who]] values T on [cQ!T] (economy)
    Internal merge selected
    [cQ] values uscope on [q!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Merge [cQ[cQ][Tpast[q..][Tpast..]]] and [q[q][who]]
    Label from [cQ[cQ][Tpast[q..][Tpast..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[]
    Stack (⥥):[q[q][who]]
    [d[d][john]]
    SO:[cQ[q[q][who]][cQ[cQ][Tpast[q[q][who]][Tpast[v*][Tpast[Tpast][v*[q[q][who]][v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]]]]]]]

    Step 13.

    Local Extent boundary at [cQ[q[q..][who..]][cQ[cQ..][Tpast..]]]
    New boundary (b) marker stacked
    Stream:[]
    Stack (⥥):b
    [q[q][who]]
    [d[d][john]]
    SO:[cQ[q[q][who]][cQ[cQ][Tpast[q[q][who]][Tpast[v*][Tpast[Tpast][v*[q[q][who]][v*[v*][see[see][d[d][john]]]]]]]]]]
    CI: wh-question

    Parse:
    Spell-out:
    who -ed(sg) see -acc John (after morpheme realization)
    who see -ed(sg) John -acc (after affix-hop)
    who see -ed(sg) John -acc (after morpheme realization, stage 2)
    who saw John  

    One derivation found.
    Computational Cost:
    Merge: 10, Agree: 11, Unify: 0, Push: 2, Boundaries: 1, Inject: 0
    Non-TOS access: 2, Pop: 0, Depth cost: 6
    Step:012345678910111213
    Stack depth:00011000122223

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