Constraint Families
1 Grimshaw 1998 Constraints on Constraints listed six types of common constraint used in both phonology and syntax
Faithfulness constraints
We have already discussed these
Mapping constraints
Certain elements have to go in certain positions
OpSpec (operators must be in specifier positions)
used by Grimshaw to account for wh-movement
Structure constraints
structural positions must be filled by (certain) elements
ObHd
used by Grimshaw to account for inversion
CP specifier position necessary to accommodate wh-element (OpSpec)
CP necessary because of X-bar theory
inversion necessary because of ObHd
Economy constraints
processes and representations should be minimised
Stay (don’t move)
used by Grimshaw to account for difference between languages with wh-movement and those without
*Struc (don’t have unnecessary structure)
Used by Grimshaw to explain why there is no inversion in non-interrogatives – CP unnecessary so not present
Markedness constraint
Don’t realise certain input elements
*Dat, *Acc, *Nom (Woolford 2000) account of why themes are in nominative when subject goes missing
Alignment constraints
First Ideas (phonology)
Generalised Alignment (McCarthy and Prince 1993)
Alignment constraints consist of 5 elements
two categories which are to be aligned = ACat1, ACat2
two edges of these categories which are involved = Edge1, Edge2
the category which is used to count violations in case of misalignment = SCat
ALIGN (F, L, ω, L, σ): The left edge of every foot coincides with the left edge of some prosodic word. Assess a violation mark for each syllable intervening between misaligned edges
This allows alignments such as:
[( x x x x ... = left edge of [...] aligned to left edge of (...)
... x x x )] = right edge of [...] aligned to right edge of (...)
... x)[x ... = left edge of [...] aligned to right edge of (...)
...x](x... = right edge of [...] aligned to left edge of (...)
The first two involve one category inside the other and hence entails a hierarchical structure. The second two involve precedence/subsequence and adjacency between two categories and hence entails linear ordering of the two categories.