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In:Interfaces in Grammar
Edited by Jianhua Hu and Haihua Pan
[Language Faculty and Beyond 15] 2019
► pp. 25–48

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Chapter 3
Elements of syntax

Repulsion and attraction

 | Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Published online: 15 April 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.15.03rie
Abstract
This contribution presents a somewhat autobiographical overview of the author’s struggle in coming to grips with the undeniable central role that the forces of attraction and repulsion play in the grammar of natural languages. It is therefore a tale of good and bad ideas, where the bad ideas sometimes suppressed the good ones. After disentangling these previous attempts at a more or less comprehensive theory of repulsion and attraction, I present a sketchy research program for where I think we need to go to find a satisfactory solution.
Article outline
  • 1.Early sources of inspiration
  • 2.A bit of “early” history
  • 3.Some ideas about categories, projections, the internal cohesion of projections, and the contexts in which they occur
  • 4.A monumental mistake
  • 5.First ideas about a new approach
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (47)
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