User:RockRockOn/A Minimalist Theory of Syntax

Guiding Principles

 * /Merge
 * /Economy
 * /Checking

Category

 * /Determiner
 * /Complementizer
 * /Inflection
 * /Noun
 * /Preposition
 * /Verb
 * /A Category (Adjectives and Adverbs)
 * /Invisible Categories

Function

 * /Specifier
 * /Modifier
 * /Complement
 * /Head

Structure (Drawing Trees)

 * NO NODE HAS MORE THAN TWO CHILDREN!
 * Definition of /Constituent
 * /C-merge

Traces

 * /Head Trace - t
 * /Specifier Trace - 
 * Operator Trace - 
 * /Modifier Trace - {t}

Semantics Stuff
See Colorless green ideas sleep furiously for the beauty of failed semantic checking
 * Semantic roles (theta roles?)

Other
It is recommended that function parses be put inside of  tags
 * /Topicalization
 * /VP-shells
 * /Ergatives
 * /Unaccusatives
 * /Object control
 * /Particle constructions
 * /VIS (VP-Internal Specifier Hypothesis)
 * Rising Quantifier
 * /PRO - invisible pronoun
 * Expletive Subject test
 * /OP - invisible operator (see also /Operator Trace)
 * /Minimum Sentence == D + I (see the nasty Sentence (linguistics) article for comparison)

Connections
I'm not sure exactly how this particular minimalist theory fits in with all the rest. I learned it from Dr. Alan Manning of BYU. I'm going to do my best to expound its principles, but I am NOT copying this material form Dr. Manning's text. I'm putting this down as I have it in my brain, unless I have to look up a specific idea. I'm also trying to verify that the principles exist elsewhere in academia before putting them down here, so I don't spoil anybody's hot new research or otherwise step on any toes.
 * Andrew McIntyre's Web Page - seems like this same theory; he does mix the determiner concept with the specifier concept, but he admits that he's only doing so for pedagogical purposes.
 * Government and binding - a similar theory, but the same one that seems to confuse many /Determiners with /Specifiers
 * See also
 * Principles and parameters theory

Templates

 * /Template:Category
 * /Template:Function