Adjectival Modifiers and the Specifier-Adjunct Distinction
Nigel Duffield · 1999
Abstract It has recently been proposed that the categorial distinction between specifiers and adjuncts is unnecessary and that reference to specifiers as unique, distinguished positions should be eliminated from grammatical descriptions (see e.g. Kayne 1994; Chomsky 1995a, b).1 Whatever the conceptual attractions of this move, it is obviously important that this should not involve any significant loss of empirical coverage. In this chapter, I will suggest that the cost of retaining reference to specifiers as distinguished positions is compensated for by the possibility of a restrictive treatment of certain parametric differences across typologically related languages.