The role of economy principles in linguistic theory - 40

Following Chomsky′s Minimalist Program (MP), much recent work in generative linguistics has focussed on the role of Economy, not only as a heuristic principle guiding theory construction, but as a constitutive princple in the design of language, i. e. a property of the object under study. Economy has previously figured in explanations in phonology, morphology and lexicon theory (underspecification, elsewhere condition).

The MP itself is an attempt to derive syntactic properties of linguistic representations from Economy–related principles governing their mode of construction, which interact with morphological properties of lexical items.

The papers in this volume present differing views on the scope and nature of Economy principles in syntax, morphology and the lexicon, offering extensions of and alternatives to the MP.

In addition to theoretical discussion, they include case studies of specific phenomena in languages ranging from English and German to Japanese and Sioux.