The Principle of Access of the Operator's Action to its Operands as an Interpretive Basis for Syntactic Movement Patterns in Natural Languages: A Case Study of Germanic Languages

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Arabic Language and Literature, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide evidence for the descriptive and explanatory adequacy of one of the most important principles in Generative Grammar within the "Government and Binding Theory" (GBT) framework, namely the principle of "Access of the Operator's Action to its Operands". Although later replaced in the Minimalist Program, the syntactic puzzles this principle addresses, particularly regarding Word Order and inflectional structures in natural languages, remain significant. This paper examines two main topics and their sub-issues, testing the strength of the "Access of the Operator's Action to its Operands" principle in explaining the diversity of word order patterns, especially in the Germanic languages. It derives the general systematic pattern regulating component arrangement and how they are handled by Overt vs. Covert Movements according to this principle. The position of the verb in the main sentence differs from its position in the subordinate clause. In the main sentence, the verb moves from the VP domain to the CP domain, while in the subordinate clause, it remains within the CP domain. This necessity fulfills the “AOAO” principle: the Subject is not GO-accessed by the inflection Head and must be governed by the closest head, the complementizer head (C). This explains why complementizers in some languages are AGR-inflected, a feature previously attributed solely to Inflection Heads.

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History

  • Receive Date: 21 May 2024
  • Accept Date: 24 August 2024

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