Abstract
This article is a critical review of Bode’s (2020) recent work on linguistic minimalism, according to which UG constitutes the structure-building operation Simplest Merge (Epstein, Kitahara, and Seely (2015, 2017)). Bode argues that the islandhood of adjuncts is a function of the way a conflict in “labeling” the set of two non-heads, i.e. {XP, YP}, resolves (Chomsky (2013, 2015)). The key proposal is her equation of labeling with “Transfer” (Chomsky (2004, 2008)). I scrutinize the workings of Simplest Merge and labeling/Transfer, taking up several contingent theoretical and empirical issues.
I conclude that despite the challenges, Bode’s general conception of UG is one to be pursued further.
