ENG 542: Issues in Biolinguistics — Spring 2010: TUE & FRI 10.30-12.00 Linguistics Section, Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus Kleanthes K. Grohmann (Room M 104, Phone x2106, kleanthi@ucy.ac.cy) February 23–26, 2010 CLASSES 11–12 : PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS PARAMETER SWITCHBOARD • UG as a rule-network akin to a circuit with a set of on/off switches • wh-parameter: front a wh-phrase or leave it in situ (SpecCP) • pro-drop parameter: allow a null subject or not (EPP/SpecTP) • Infl-parameter: enforce verb movement or not (V-to-I/adverbs) • head parameter: head-initial or head-final (X–YP vs YP–X/different?) (1) a. What will you buy tomorrow? English b. You will buy what tomorrow? Chinglish (2) a. (I think that) he will buy a car. English b. (Think.1SG that) will.3SG buy a car. Greeklish (3) a. John quickly/never buys a car. English b. John buys quickly/never a car. Frenglish (4) a. [ vP John give the book to Mary] English b. [ vP John book-the Mary-to give] Japanglish Is variation in language (biology) endless? By today, linguists (biologists) have come to understand that variation is severely constrained by the cognitive (genetic) constraints imposed by the very system that makes language (life) possible (from Boeckx 2010: 88). Question: How many parameters are there? Say, 100 — then: 2 100 possible languages… Revisit the wh-parameter: Multiple wh-questions (e.g. Chinese vs English vs Russian). (5) a. John will not buy what when why? Chinglish b. Why will John not buy what when? English c. Why what when John will not buy? Russlish PARAMETER HIERARCHIES There is a clear interdependency among parameters. Hornstein et al. (2005: 4, fn. 4): Take, for example, the null-subject or pro-drop parameter (see Rizzi 1980), arguably one of the better studied ones (see the papers collected in Jaeggli and Safir 1989 for pertinent discussion). It has been argued that languages that have an ‘‘on’’-setting, thus allowing for null-subjects, also show lack of that-trace effects and overt expletives, and allow for free subject inversion, long wh-movement of subjects, and empty resumptive pronouns in embedded clauses (see Chomsky 1981: 240ff.).