Publication of "The latest development of MERGE defined based on Workspace (工作空间定义下合并的最新发展)" in Contemporary Linguistics (当代语言学)

The article of Prof. Victor Junnan PAN and Ph.D candidate Yuqiao DU, in title of “The latest development of MERGE defined based on Workspace (工作空间定义下合并的最新发展)” is published on Contemporary Linguistics (当代语言学) (Volume 26, Number 6).

Abstract This paper reviews and discusses the details and the implications of the latest development of MERGE. Under the framework of Minimalist Program, previously reliable constraints under a representational approach(such as Subjacency or Empty Category Principle) and the internal representational levels of the Language Faculty(such as deep and surface structures) are gone. All legal operations and the mechanisms inside the language faculty must pass the judgement of the Strong Minimalist Thesis in order to satisfy the legibility conditions. In this view, Merge is the only qualified operation that does composition and hence builds the hierarchical structures. For Chomsky, Merge is free and requires no triggering. Syntax therefore generates syntactically converged structures containing no uninterpretable features, regardless of whether they are deviant, but the Conceptual-Intentional system will fail the uninterpretable ones. As a recent development, Chomsky(2019, 2021) has proposed two new definitions of Merge: MERGE that works on Workspace(WS), and the Markovian MERGE. MERGE that works on WS is formally represented as: MERGE(P, Q, WS1)=WS2=[{P, Q}, P, Q, …]. MERGE takes P, Q in WS1 and forms the set {P, Q}, updating WS1 to WS2. Importantly, the elements P and Q will not be deleted from WS2. This ban on deletion can be regarded as a special case of No Tampering Condition. Chomsky assumes that upon each MERGE, only one accessible element is added in WS, which reflects resource restriction(RR), a core concept derived from the limited capacity of the Language Faculty as its biological traits. This limit of accessibility expansion is carried out by Phase Impenetrability Condition and minimal search. The concept of RR is even more important for Markovian MERGE, which is a continuation of WS-based MERGE: MERGE(P, Q, WS)=WS’=[{P, Q}, W, X1, …, Xn], where Z. In this equation, W is the place that hosts whatever elements not participating in the current MERGE; {X1,…, Xn} represents the sequence of lexical items for the next MERGE; and Z represents the third-factor conditions that restrict MERGE. The most significant change is that MERGE is assumed to be strictly Markovian such that different stages of WS are independent of each other. The problems of “look-ahead” and “backtracking” in derivation are eliminated because of the possibility of parallel WS, given that WS is Markovian in nature. An interesting implication of Markovian MERGE is that MERGE can take elements from different WS, as long as they are still accessible. This option enriches the legal merging possibilities. The strict Markovian nature of MERGE further enhances the idea of free MERGE. Whether syntax is a single-or multiple-threaded computation process is another important issue implied in the two new definitions. Keywords: Minimalist Program, MERGE, Workspace (WS), resource restriction (RR), Markovian Property