Abstract This paper presents a novel answer to the question why Move might be an integral part of language. The answer is rooted in the computational framework of subregular complexity, which has already been fruitfully applied to phonology. The computational perspective reveals that Merge belongs to the class TSL (tier-based strictly local) if the grammar also allows for recursive adjunction. Any cognitive device that can handle this level of computational complexity also possesses all the resources that are needed for Move. In fact, Merge and Move are remarkably similar when viewed as instances of TSL. Consequently, Move has no additional computational or conceptual cost attached to it and comes essentially for free.
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@inproceedings{Graf18CLS,
author = {Graf, Thomas},
title = {Why Movement Comes for Free Once You Have Adjunction},
year = {2018},
booktitle = {Proceedings of {CLS} 53},
editor = {Edmiston, Daniel and
Ermolaeva, Marina and
Hakgüder, Emre and
Lai, Jackie and
Montemurro, Kathryn and
Rhodes, Brandon and
Sankhagowit, Amara and
Tabatowski, Miachel},
pages = {117--136},
}