OPTIMALITY IS FOR“UNMARKED CONFIGURATIONS”:

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THERE, DPs AND PPs

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold: (i) to provide an analysis that explains all possible sentence patterns for each type of verb, and (ii) through examining the necessary assumptions for (i), to present an alternative concept of the optimality of syntactic design. The exploration for (i) makes it clear that EPP(-inheritance) is a lexical property of each EPP-bearer. EPP therefore persists even when it is not associated with φ-/Case-features, inducing superfluous movement or merger. Although the persistence of EPP apparently does not fit the popular idea of optimality, it ensures another kind of optimality: minimizing the number of derivable configuration patterns.