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:
    (8) Who arrived?

    Derivation:
    (8) Who arrived?

    Stream:[[who!D],[q!case!N!scope],[arrive],[v~unacc],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[]

    Step 1.

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

    Step 2.

    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:[[arrive],[v~unacc],[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]

    Step 3.

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

    Step 4.

    Merge [v~unacc] and [arrive[arrive][q!case!scope[q..][who..]]]
    Label from [v~unacc] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [v~unacc] checks theta on [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Stream:[[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    SO:[v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive][q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]]]

    Step 5.

    Internal merge selected
    Merge [v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive..][q..]]] and [q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    Label from [v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive..][q..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[Tpast!phi!v],[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]]
    SO:[v~unacc[q!case!scope[q!scope][who]][v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive][q!scope[q!scope][who]]]]]

    Step 6.

    Merge [Tpast!phi!v] and [v~unacc[q!case!scope[q..][who..]][v~unacc[v~unacc..][arrive..]]]
    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]]
    [Tpast!v] attracts [v~unacc[q!scope[q..][who..]][v~unacc[v~unacc..][arrive..]]]
    Merge [Tpast[Tpast][v~unacc[q..][v~unacc..]]] and [v~unacc]
    Label from [Tpast[Tpast][v~unacc[q..][v~unacc..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[cQ!wh!T]]
    Stack (⥥):[q!scope[q!scope][who]]
    SO:[Tpast[v~unacc][Tpast[Tpast][v~unacc[q!scope[q!scope][who]][v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive][q!scope[q!scope][who]]]]]]]

    Step 7.

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

    Step 8.

    Merge [cQ!wh!T] and [Tpast[q!scope[q..][who..]][Tpast[v~unacc..][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]]
    SO:[cQ[q[q][who]][cQ[cQ][Tpast[q[q][who]][Tpast[v~unacc][Tpast[Tpast][v~unacc[q[q][who]][v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive][q[q][who]]]]]]]]]]

    Step 9.

    Local Extent boundary at [cQ[q[q..][who..]][cQ[cQ..][Tpast..]]]
    New boundary (b) marker stacked
    Stream:[]
    Stack (⥥):b
    [q[q][who]]
    SO:[cQ[q[q][who]][cQ[cQ][Tpast[q[q][who]][Tpast[v~unacc][Tpast[Tpast][v~unacc[q[q][who]][v~unacc[v~unacc][arrive[arrive][q[q][who]]]]]]]]]]
    CI: wh-question

    Parse:
    Spell-out:
    who -ed(sg) arrive (after morpheme realization)
    who arrive -ed(sg) (after affix-hop)
    who arrive -ed(sg) (after morpheme realization, stage 2)
    who arrived  

    One derivation found.
    Computational Cost:
    Merge: 9, Agree: 8, Unify: 0, Push: 1, Boundaries: 1, Inject: 0
    Non-TOS access: 1, Pop: 0, Depth cost: 1
    Step:0123456789
    Stack depth:0001111112

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