Optional Labeling and its Effect on Structural Distance
Brooke Larson
January 2025
 

Subjects and objects famously show robust asymmetries in their patterning, so much so that those patterns are taken to indicate fundamental geometrical differences in their positions in the derivations of syntactic structures. However, there are clear cases where subjects and objects fail to show this otherwise normative asymmetry. Following work done in Longenbaugh and Polinsky, 2018, I propose an analysis of those instances of surprising symmetry that makes them predictable. I argue that if terms merge for Case or EPP reasons, the resulting structure need not undergo any labeling. Where labeling fails to intervene between two terms, it renders them structurally equidistant for further operations and thus provides the venue for symmetry between subjects and objects.
Format: [ pdf ]
Reference: lingbuzz/008763
(please use that when you cite this article)
Published in: Syntax in Uncharted Territories: Essays in Honor of Maria Polinsky. Full volume available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rk3n45s
keywords: labeling, structural distance, c-command, syntax
previous versions: v1 [January 2025]
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