When Arguments Merge by Elise Newman

A New Theory of Argument Structure in Syntax

In When Arguments Merge, Elise Newman offers a groundbreaking theory of argument structure within Chomsky's Minimalist Program. Drawing from a wide variety of languages, she uses the concept of Merge, the structure-building operation in syntax, to explain how verbs and their arguments combine. Inspired by wh-questions, Newman reveals connections between empirical phenomena across languages such as Mayan, Bantu, and Indo-European.

Her theory suggests that the timing of argument merging and movement, driven by feature relationships, constrains argument distribution and affects agreement and case assignment, providing insights into syntactic patterns globally.