A multi-dimensional derivation model under the free-MERGE system: labor division between syntax and the C-I interface

Abstract

This paper proposes a general multi-dimensional derivation model under a free-MERGE system. MERGE indicates the derivational dimensions that participate the computation. Set-MERGE is considered as an operation that keeps the two merge-mates in the same dimension, and Pair-MERGE sends the two merge-mates to two different dimensions. Each dimension has its own Labeling Algorithm (LA); the LA inside one dimension ignores syntactic objects merged from other dimensions. The resulting multi-dimensional structure will then be transferred to the Conceptual-Intentional (C-I) interface. A syntactic object resulted from Pair-MERGE will be interpreted in terms of coordination relation or modification relation. Different possible labelings in a multi-dimensional structure gives rise to different modification possibilities at C-I. C-I can see the competition of different labels, and will exhaust every possibility to decide which labeling gives rise to an appropriate interpretation.