Parameter Preservation at the Syntax-PF Interface: The Ba Construction Revisited

Abstract

In this paper, I argue for an analysis that treats the ba construction in Chinese as a case of shape preservation-induced movement structure. Specifically, the robust preverbal adverbial and PP expressions and the mandatory ba-DP movement in ditransitive structures are both derived from a violable head directionality macroparameter under the Symmetrical Syntax Hypothesis, which allows directionality parameters to examine word order throughout the derivation. In addition to being able to capture the parallel syntactic properties of Scandinavian object shift, this account receives further empirical support from word order facts of Archaic Chinese and Bambara.

Antisymmetry and Externalization

“…p.140, note 3), and has been turned away from in Chomsky et al 2019: 237-238. Also partially separate is the question of "shape preservation" discussed by Shu (2018) and references cited there. Taken as a general principle, shape preservation (which could perhaps be formulated in a way compatible with antisymmetry) would have to come to grips with counterexamples such as negative phrase movement in Scandinavian (cf.…”