A MINIMALIST ANALYSIS OF COORDINATION

DECONSTRUCTING THE COORDINATE STRUCTURE CONSTRAINT

Abstract

Assuming that as Merge theory predicts, coordination has an asymmetric structure of the form “[_&P & [_&' XP [_&', & YP]]],” we provide a minimalist ac-count of the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC) on A- and A'-movement, namely a “Minimal Search” analysis of A-movement and a phase-based account of A'-movement, deconstructing the CSC. Agree involved in A-movement applies to the entire coordinate structure alone by Minimal Search, hence there is no violation of the CSC in A-movement. A'-movement, not hinging on Agree, generally observes the CSC, but shows exceptional ex-traction out of a conjunct, which is predicted by the availability of External Merge of &, provided that &P forms a phase. Finally, we show that Agree means full agreement with respect to φ-features and conjuncts.