Syntactic doubling and deletion as a source of variation
Sjef Barbiers · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2014
Recent microcomparative syntax research shows that syntactic doubling is a pervasive phenomenon. This chapter argues that doubling in Syntax is necessary to express predication relations at the level of semantic interpretation (LF). The resulting redundancy at the level of phonological interpretation (PF) can be reduced by deletion under local recoverability, giving rise to hidden doubling structures. This interaction between doubling in Syntax and PF deletion is an important source of diachronic and synchronic linguistic variation. This model is demonstrated with an analysis of focus particle doubling in Dutch. According to this analysis, constituent attached focus particles are doubled by another focus particle elsewhere in the clause. The two focus particles must end up in a SpecHead configuration in overt syntax to make semantic interpretation possible. Once in this configuration, one of the two particles can be deleted. In this way four semantically equivalent syntactic structures are reduced to one.