자연 언어의 인허원리

Licensing Principles in Natural Language

This paper explores a Principle-Based Phrase Structure , i.e., a Licensed Structure and its applications in languages, while eliminating redundant phrase structure rules and some versions of the X theory. Phrase structure will be derived as output of universal principles at each level of syntactic representation, rather than being stipulated as input. A Licensed Structure is a well-formed phrase structure derived from universal principles such as Case and Theta theory. The constraints which hold at DS as well as at other levels interact to yield the constraints on well-formed P-markers in a Licensed Structure. The results of this work suggest that the phrase structure component, together with the parameters of X theory, can be entirely eliminated from Universal Grammar. The initial theoretical assumption of this study is the Licensing Condition that every element in a well-formed structure must be licensed. It means that the well-formedness of sentences must be explained in terms of the Licensing Condition. The variety of subrules in UG can be significantly reduced, perhaps to one condition, Licensing. Therefore, the Licensing Principle is an overridding general principle which can embrace the Projection Principle. Full Interpretation, the Extended Projection Principle, predication, and various subtheories in UG, such as Case Theory and Theta Theory. The proposed Licensed Structure consists of universal licensing relations and a category projection module, and is constrained by the Licensing Principle. In a Principle-Based Licensed Structure, the notions of specifier, complement , head , maximality , subject , and topic are consequently derived from non-phrase structure origins by means of the Licensing Principle. It follows that the above notions are relational and functional. A modular theory of phrase structure allows us to give explicit definitions for all and only those notions of structural prominence which are necessary in the grammar. The Principle-Based Licensed Structure and redefined structural notions under the control of Licensing Principle approaches more closely to the modular view of principles and parameters in UG . This paper is organized as follows: first, it discusses why and how X thory can be eliminated and presents alternatively a model of the Licensed Structure and the Licensing Principle. Second, it redefines the structural notions in a Principle-Based Licensed Structure, and especially addresses the question of what a subject is. Third, it is interested in the ability of the nicely constrained framework to cope with the category projections of functional heads, mainly Infl in English and Korean.