《语段理论:导论》评介

A Review of Phase Theory:An Introduction

文章旨在对Barbara Citko的《语段理论:导论》一书作简要介绍和评述。该书为生成语法最简方案框架下的语段理论提供了一个清晰的全景性综述,具体涉及最简方案中的相关核心概念、语段理论中几个重要的机制和操作(包括语段不可渗透条件、多重拼读和特征继承)、语段的判断方法、CP等经典语段地位的确立、其他语段地位确立时尚存的争议、语段变异以及语段与接口层的关系等重要内容。语段理论紧密联系强式最简命题,为处理狭义语言运算与接口系统的交互作用提供了一个具有可操作性的技术手段,有利于降低句法运算的负担,提高运算效率。但语段仍有不少问题亟待深入研究。该书不仅是对已有的关于语段基本属性研究所作的总结,而且还为未来的相关研究指明了方向。

This paper aims to review Phase Theory: An Introduction, a book written by Barbara Citko and published in 2014. From the perspective of the Minimalist Program of Generative Grammar, this book provides a clear, fluent and panoramic overview of phase theory, in particular by dedicating to the discussion of the following aspects: relevant core concepts in the Minimalist Program, important mechanisms and operations in phase theory (including Phase Impenetrability Condition, Multiple Spell-Out and Feature Inheritance), phasehood diagnostics, classic phases, controversies of other phases, variation in phasehood, and the relationships between phases and interfaces. Closely connected to the Strong Minimalist Thesis, and with the ability of phase heads to determine spell-out, the ability of phase heads to serve as probes and the requirement that movement out of phase proceeds through phase edges, phase theory provides practical operations for narrow syntactic computation to interact with interface systems, and concomitantly helps to reduce the burden of syntactic derivation and improve computation efficiency. Many issues concerning phase theory, however, still need further studies. In spite of some weaknesses, this book indeed shows where phases come from, what they can do, and where they are going.