Talk by Greg Kobele (Leipzig University)
Agreement in Minimalist Grammars – towards a non-derivational characterization of cyclic optimization
Abstract: Many examples of cyclicity and cyclic optimization in syntax involve agreement. Minimalist grammars formalize the early pre-Agree version of the minimalist program. I present a recent formalization of agreement, which lends itself well to a non-derivational presentation of minimalism. I then present a more faithful formalisation of Agree, and demonstrate how the latter can be subsumed under the former.