Abstract Do contemporary syntactic theories rely on too many features? Decades of computational research have culminated in two contradictory answers:

Yes, there are too many features because having at least two features is already one too many and brings in undesirable overgeneration.
No, the number of features is irrelevant because a grammar with no features can be just as powerful as one with thousands of features.

The source of this confusing state of affairs is the intimate relation between features and constraints. Features can be replaced by constraints, to a point where the grammar is completely feature-free. And constraints can be compiled down into the feature system until no constraints are left and everything is done by feature checking.

Proposition 1: Features and constraints are interchangeable.

The power to express arbitrary constraints causes massive overgeneration, which must be curtailed. There is a substantive body of computational work on how constraints can be limited in a linguistically natural fashion, whereas it is largely unclear how the same can be achieved with restrictions on feature systems. I will sketch what options have been explored so far and why constraints are easier to rein in than features.

Proposition 2: The power of constraints is easy to restrict, that of features is not.

In the absence of meaningful restrictions on features, then, constraint-based accounts should be preferred. I present small case studies on successive-cyclic movement, selection, and morphosyntax that illustrate what this approach looks like in practice and how it can yield new theoretical and empirical insights.

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Case Assignment in TSL Syntax: A Case Study

Sat 05 January 2019 | in Presentations |
| Minimalist grammars | subregular | morphosyntax | tiers | derivation trees |

Vu, Mai Ha, Nazila Shafiei, and Thomas Graf

Abstract Recent work suggests that the subregular complexity of syntax might be comparable to that of phonology and morphology. More specifically, whereas phonological and morphological dependencies are tier-based strictly local over strings, syntactic dependencies are tier-based strictly …
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Case Assignment in TSL Syntax: A Case Study

Tue 30 October 2018 | in Papers |
| Minimalist grammars | subregular | morphosyntax | tiers | derivation trees |

Vu, Mai Ha, Nazila Shafiei, and Thomas Graf

Abstract Recent work suggests that the subregular complexity of syntax might be comparable to that of phonology and morphology. More specifically, whereas phonological and morphological dependencies are tier-based strictly local over strings, syntactic dependencies are tier-based strictly …
read more
Monotonicity as an Effective Theory of Morphosyntactic Variation

Wed 24 October 2018 | in Papers |
| monotonicity | algebra | morphology | morphosyntax | syncretism | typology | *ABA | PCC | Gender Case Constraint |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract One of the major goals of linguistics is to delineate the possible range of variation across languages. Recent work has identified a surprising number of typological gaps in a variety of domains. In morphology, this includes stem suppletion, person pronoun syncretism, case …
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Graph Transductions and Typological Gaps in Morphological Paradigms

Fri 14 July 2017 | in Presentations |
| morphology | morphosyntax | typology | person hierarchy | person case constraint | subregular | transductions | *ABA |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Several typological gaps have attracted a lot of interest in the linguistic literature recently. These concern the Person Case Constraint and the absence of ABA patterns in adjectival gradation, pronoun suppletion, case syncretism, and singular noun allomorphy, among others. This paper is …
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Graph Transductions and Typological Gaps in Morphological Paradigms

Sat 01 July 2017 | in Papers |
| morphology | morphosyntax | typology | person hierarchy | person case constraint | subregular | transductions | *ABA |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Several typological gaps have attracted a lot of interest in the linguistic literature recently. These concern the Person Case Constraint and the absence of ABA patterns in adjectival gradation, pronoun suppletion, case syncretism, and singular noun allomorphy, among others. This paper is …
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Do We Need Features for Morphosyntax?

Mon 26 June 2017 | in Presentations |
| morphology | morphosyntax | typology | person hierarchy | person case constraint | subregular | features | transductions | *ABA |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Bobaljik & Sauerland’s *ABA and the Combinatorics of Morphological Features attempts to explain the absence of ABA patterns across languages in terms of feature combinatorics. Their approach marks a step in the right direction by focusing on the algebra underlying the feature …
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Feature Geometry and the Person Case Constraint: An Algebraic Link

Fri 11 April 2014 | in Papers |
| morphosyntax | PCC | algebra | feature geometry | typology | lattices | person hierarchy |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract The Person Case Constraint blocks certain combinations of clitics and weak pronouns in a variety of languages. Out of the numerous logical possibilities, only four variants of the Person Case Constraint are attested. I show that these four variants form a natural …
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Feature Geometry and the Person Case Constraint: An Algebraic Link

Fri 11 April 2014 | in Presentations |
| morphosyntax | PCC | algebra | feature geometry | typology | lattices | person hierarchy |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract The Person Case Constraint blocks certain combinations of clitics and weak pronouns in a variety of languages. Out of the numerous logical possibilities, only four variants of the Person Case Constraint are attested. I show that these four variants form a natural …
read more

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