Theoretical Comparative Syntax

3   Strong and weak barriers

Remarks on the proper characterization of barriers

1   Introduction

This paper attempts to construct a system in which the notion of “barriers” in syntax is properly characterized. Specifically, it will be argued that the effects of some stipulative statements made within the system of barriers proposed by Chomsky (1986a), in particular his constraints on adjunction, can be derived as consequences of interactions of general principles if we adopt a certain version of X′ theory, namely, the “relativized” X′ theory proposed in Fukui (1986).

After outlining the relevant part of Chomsky's (1986a) system of barriers in section 2, we will, in section 3, point out some problems left open in his system, and suggest how these ...