Minimalist Machine Derivations

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Examples:

  • Basic sentence patterns: collapse
    Example Stream of heads (click + ⇇Send) Notes
    (1) John saw Mary [mary, d, see, 'v*', [john, d], 'Tpast', c] One derivation.
    Transitive sentence: v* values acc Case, has edge θ-position.
    (2) John runs [run, 'v_unerg', [john, d], 'T', c] One derivation.
    Unergative sentence: vunerg has an edge θ-position.
    (3) A man arrives [man, a, arrive, 'v~unacc', 'T' ,c] One derivation.
    Unaccusative sentence: v~unacc values θ and has an edge feature. (See Sobin examples.)
    (4) There arrived a man [man, a, arrive,'v~unacc', there, 'Tpast', c] One derivation.
    Expletive unaccusative construction: v~unacc values θ and edge feature satisfied by Merge of there.
    (5) John was arrested [john, d, arrest, prt, 'v~', 'Tpast' ,c] One derivation.
    Passive sentence: v* replaced by v~ and prt. v~ values θ. (See Sobin examples.) Passive participle prt has unvalued Case and ɸ. (See Derivation by Phase examples.)
    (6) Who saw John? [john, d, see, 'v*', [who, q], 'Tpast', c_Q] One derivation.
    Subject wh-question: CQ has unvalued Wh and T (simultaneously) valued by corresponding features on who. (See Pesetsky & Torrego examples.)
    (7) What does John see? [what:n, q, see, 'v*', [john, d], 'T', c_Q] One derivation.
    Object wh-question: CQ has unvalued Wh and T valued from what and (head of) T, respectively. (See Pesetsky & Torrego examples.)
    (8) Who arrived? [who, q, arrive,'v~unacc', 'Tpast', c_Q] One derivation.
    Unaccusative wh-question: CQ Wh and T simultaneously valued by who. (See Pesetsky & Torrego examples.)
    • Machine Parameters: expand

    Animation:
    (5) John was arrested

    Derivation:
    (5) John was arrested

    Stream:[[john!D],[d!case!N],[arrest],[prt!phi!case],[v~],[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[]

    Step 1.

    Head of stream [john!D] is the initial SO
    Stream:[[d!case!N],[arrest],[prt!phi!case],[v~],[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[john!D]

    Step 2.

    Merge [d!case!N] and [john!D]
    Label from [d!case!N] (syntactic head with an unvalued uF)
    Inherit interpretable feature(s) [f(phi,[3,sg,n])] from [john!D]
    [d!case!N] values D on [john!D]
    [john] values N on [d!case!N]
    Stream:[[arrest],[prt!phi!case],[v~],[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):
    SO:[d!case[d][john]]

    Step 3.

    Merge [arrest] and [d!case[d][john]]
    Label from [arrest] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    Theta-mark [d!case[d][john]]
    Push [d!case[d][john]] (unvalued uF) onto stack
    Stream:[[prt!phi!case],[v~],[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d!case[d][john]]
    SO:[arrest[arrest][d!case[d][john]]]

    Step 4.

    Merge [prt!phi!case] and [arrest[arrest][d!case[d..][john..]]]
    Label from [prt!phi!case] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [d!case[d][john]] values uPhi on [prt!phi!case]
    Unified case feature on [prt!case] and [d!case[d][john]]
    Stream:[[v~],[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d!case[d][john]]
    SO:[prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d!case[d][john]]]]

    Step 5.

    Internal merge selected
    Merge [prt[prt][arrest[arrest..][d..]]] and [d!case[d][john]]
    Label from [prt[prt][arrest[arrest..][d..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[v~],[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d!case[d][john]]
    SO:[prt[d!case[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]

    Step 6.

    Merge [v~] and [prt[d!case[d..][john..]][prt[prt..][arrest..]]]
    Label from [v~] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [v~] checks theta on [d!case[d][john]]
    Stream:[[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d!case[d][john]]
    SO:[v~[v~][prt[d!case[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]]

    Step 7.

    Internal merge selected
    Merge [v~[v~][prt[d..][prt..]]] and [d!case[d][john]]
    Label from [v~[v~][prt[d..][prt..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[Tpast!phi],[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d!case[d][john]]
    SO:[v~[d!case[d][john]][v~[v~][prt[d[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]]]

    Step 8.

    Merge [Tpast!phi] and [v~[d!case[d..][john..]][v~[v~..][prt..]]]
    Label from [Tpast!phi] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    [d!case[d][john]] values uPhi on [Tpast!phi]
    [Tpast] values nom case on [d!case[d][john]]
    Stream:[[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d[d][john]]
    SO:[Tpast[Tpast][v~[d[d][john]][v~[v~][prt[d[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]]]]

    Step 9.

    Internal merge selected
    Merge [Tpast[Tpast][v~[d..][v~..]]] and [d[d][john]]
    Label from [Tpast[Tpast][v~[d..][v~..]]] (edge feature)
    Stream:[[c]]
    Stack (⥥):[d[d][john]]
    SO:[Tpast[d[d][john]][Tpast[Tpast][v~[d[d][john]][v~[v~][prt[d[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]]]]]

    Step 10.

    Merge [c] and [Tpast[d[d..][john..]][Tpast[Tpast..][v~..]]]
    Label from [c] (syntactic head merging with a non-head)
    Stream:[]
    Stack (⥥):[d[d][john]]
    SO:[c[c][Tpast[d[d][john]][Tpast[Tpast][v~[d[d][john]][v~[v~][prt[d[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]]]]]]

    Step 11.

    Local Extent boundary at [c[c][Tpast[d..][Tpast..]]]
    New boundary (b) marker stacked
    Stream:[]
    Stack (⥥):b
    [d[d][john]]
    SO:[c[c][Tpast[d[d][john]][Tpast[Tpast][v~[d[d][john]][v~[v~][prt[d[d][john]][prt[prt][arrest[arrest][d[d][john]]]]]]]]]]

    Parse:
    Spell-out:
    John -ed(sg) be -en arrest (after morpheme realization)
    John be -ed(sg) arrest -en (after affix-hop)
    John be -ed(sg) arrest -en (after morpheme realization, stage 2)
    John was arrested  

    One derivation found.
    Computational Cost:
    Merge: 9, Agree: 6, Unify: 1, Push: 1, Boundaries: 1, Inject: 0
    Non-TOS access: 0, Pop: 0, Depth cost: 1
    Step:01234567891011
    Stack depth:000111111112

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