"An argument for a novel binarity constraint on merge, preventing syntactic movement from relating more than two distinct positions at one time"--
An argument that Merge is binary but its binarity refers to syntactic positions rather than objects.In this book, Barbara Citko and Martina Graanin-Y ksek examine the constraints on Merge--the basic structure-building operation in minimalist syntax--from a multidominant perspective. They maintain that Merge is binary, but argue that the binarity of Merge refers to syntactic positions Merge relates- what has typically been formulated as a constraint that prevents Merge from combining more than two syntactic objects is a constraint on Merge's relating more than two syntactic positions.
Barbara Citko is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington. She is the author of Phase Theory- An Introduction and Symmetry in Syntax- Merge, Move and Labels. Martina Graanin-Y ksek is Professor in the Department of Foreign Language Education at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.