Phonological Features: Another Crucial Factor in the Labeling Algorithm

Abstract

Labeling is required by the interpretive system. When a head merges with a phrase, the head provides the label. However, lexical heads and T with poor inflectional features are too weak to be labels. Although insightful, this theory leaves at least one problem that needs prompt solutions: are there other kinds of weak heads? In this paper, we address this issue by proposing that phonological features play a crucial role in the labeling algorithm and by putting forward an additional version of weak heads. That is, a head that loses phonological features in the syntax is also weak. This approach to weak heads, together with the constraint that a structure must be labeled for interpretation, can capture the distribution of empty categories in topicalization, relativization, ellipsis, and other phenomena, some of which have not received enough scholarly attention. Therefore, our syntactic-phonological approach to labeling can open up new possibilities to account for the distribution of empty categories in a principled manner.