ReVEL, special edition n. 4, 2010. ISSN 1678-8931 1 OTHERO, Gabriel A.; MENUZZI, Sergio M. Optimality theoretic Syntax: presentation. ReVEL. Special edition n. 4, 20109. [www.revel.inf.br/eng]. OPTIMALITY THEORETIC SYNTAX: PRESENTATION Gabriel de Avila Othero 1 Sergio de Moura Menuzzi 1 gab.othero@gmail.com smenuzzi@yahoo.com.br Optimality Theory (OT) is a generative theory that differs substantially from the generative ‘derivational’ tradition by emphasizing the representational character of grammatical constraints (cf. Prince & Smolensky 1993, McCarthy & Prince 1993). Much of the work in OT has been developed in the areas of Phonology and Morphology, and these areas have already presented several interesting published and unpublished papers, articles, books and dissertations. Studies in OT Syntax, on the other hand, were not so numerous, but by the end of the 1990s, they had already become a viable alternative to the derivational approaches (cf. Barbosa et al. 1998, Legendre Grimshaw & Vikner 2001, Sells 2001). However, unlike the productive fields of OT Phonology and OT Morphology, there are not many researchers applying an OT approach to the study of Syntax in a systematic way. Nevertheless, we believe that optimality-theoretic syntax offers a new perspective on old issues in syntactic theory. A major innovation of OT is that it is essentially a formalization of the idea that grammar is a tool for resolving conflicts among principles constraining the well-formedness of language expressions. This concept requires that grammatical principles be evaluated simultaneously, in parallel – without that, there is no conflict among constraints to begin with. A natural consequence is that it is not necessary to conceive the relationship among different components of grammar – Lexicon, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Prosody – as being ‘linear’, ‘sequential’; this relationship may simply be ‘parallel.’ In other words, conditions from different grammatical components may, in OT syntax, operate simultaneously and get in conflict with each other. 1 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS \ CNPq.