Language Quarks

Abstract

This paper very briefly summarizes the results of recent research into the nature of grammatical features and relations (Sigurðsson 2004 et seq.). While morphology operates with discrete (albeit abstract) features and feature values, syntax builds and operates on relations. Many, perhaps all syntactic relations involve silent active heads, language quarks. Quarks cannot be materialized or absolutely located in linguistic ‘space’, and hence there can be no one-to-one correlations between them and ‘concrete material’, such as discrete morphological features. Minimalist syntax is a partly successful theory of I-language, but a plausible theory of language externalization remains to be developed.