This article investigates the Final-over-Final Constraint (FOFC): a head-initial category cannot be the immediate structural complement of a head-final category within the same extended projection. This universal cannot be formulated without reference to the kind of hierarchical structure generated by standard models of phrase structure. First, we document the empirical evidence: logically possible but crosslinguistically unattested combinations of head-final and head-initial orders. Second, we propose a theory, based on a version of Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom, where FOFC is an effect of the distribution of a movement-triggering feature in extended projections, subject to Relativized Minimality.
This paper presents a novel "Kaynian" analysis of Old and Middle English (OE and ME) word-order patterns in terms of which the patterns attested at the various stages of OE and ME are analysed as the output of a single grammar which, however, permits restricted types of variation. We propose that the West Germanic-like OE word orders were derived via the application of two types of "large XP" movement -VP-raising to SpecvP and vP-raising to SpecTP -which are in fact pied-piping operations: in both cases, a DP contained within VP and vP -the object and the subject respectively -constitutes the actual Goal of movement, with the larger structure simply being pied-piped along. Non-West-Germanic orders in both OE and ME and synchronic variation more generally are shown to be derived from the sideby-side availability in the OE and ME grammar of pied-piping and "stranding", and the wordorder changes that occurred in ME are analysed as the consequence of a reanalysis of the ever more liberal "stranding"-permitting pied-piping grammar as one which specifically targets DPs. INTRODUCTIONIn this paper, we propose a new analysis of the word-order variation found in Old andMiddle English and also of the word-order changes that took place during the Middle English period. Although we follow a broadly "Kaynian" approach to the analysis of OV order in that we assume that such orders cannot be the direct result of First Merge of object and verb, our approach differs from other approaches in the literature (e.g. Roberts, 1997;van der Wurff, 1997avan der Wurff, , 1997bvan der Wurff, , 1999 in that we propose that the movements that derived the Old and Middle
An examination of the evidence for and the theoretical implications of a universal word order constraint, with data from a wide range of languages. This book presents evidence for a universal word order constraint, the Final-over-Final Condition (FOFC), and discusses the theoretical implications of this phenomenon. FOFC is a syntactic condition that disallows structures where a head-initial phrase is contained in a head-final phrase in the same extended projection/domain. The authors argue that FOFC is a linguistic universal, not just a strong tendency, and not a constraint on processing. They discuss the effects of the universal in various domains, including the noun phrase, the adjective phrase, the verb phrase, and the clause. The book draws on data from a wide range of languages, including Hindi, Turkish, Basque, Finnish, Afrikaans, German, Hungarian, French, English, Italian, Romanian, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Pontic Greek, Bagirmi, Dholuo, and Thai. FOFC, the authors argue, is important because it is the only known example of a word order asymmetry pertaining to the order of heads. As such, it has significant repercussions for theories connecting the narrow syntax to linear order.
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