| description | Jan-Wouter Zwart. To appear. Rethinking the model of grammar: PF after LF. Catalan Journal of Linguistics. |
| type | Reviewed journal article. |
| ID | 2026b | 181 | DOI | first version September 25, 2025; revised March 26, 2026 |
| origin | This paper was presented at the Coloquio de Gramatica Generativa 34, UNED Madrid, May 7, 2025. Prior to that, this material was discussed at a workshop in honor of Ellisabeth Kerr and Zhen Li, at Leiden University, September 4, 2024, at the DGfS Summer School ‘Form-Meaning mismatches in spoken and visual communication’ held at the University of Göttingen in August 2024, and at the CLCG Syntax Seminar at the University of Groningen in the Fall of 2024. |
| keywords | model of grammar, speaker, LF, PF, ad sensum phenomena, discourse, wh-movement, ellipsis, binding, differential marking |
| summary | The interface levels PF and LF of the Government and Binding theory (GB) have been redefined in Minimalism as a ‘sensory-motor’ component (for PF) and a ‘conceptual-intentional’ component (for LF). The main point of this article is that this redefinition of the interface levels should lead to an adjustment of the model of grammar, such that Narrow Syntax feeds LF, and LF feeds PF. We propose that LF is the component of the model of grammar in which conceptualizations and intentions of the speaker become relevant and that Narrow Syntax (Merge) should be blind to these speaker-sensitive aspects. The argument is based, among others, on case/agreement phenomena that cannot be analyzed as a function of Merge, but are semantically motivated, i.e. refer to conceptualizations and intentions of the speaker. Since these conceptualizations and intentions of the speaker are introduced at LF, and inflectional morphology is realized at PF, LF must feed PF. |
| related | Presentations: handout, 05/2025; handout, 09/2024 |