Homework 5 pre-update

We just talked about a bunch of stuff in class, in order to try to come to some kind of conclusion about how to approach the part of the previously assigned homework 5 that relied on a mechanism that we made obsolete.

I am writing this note to say that an update is coming, I anticipate it being later tonight. I will provide specifics about how the system will work and fit together, based on the discussion today and some decisions. It will not be ambiguous how to do homework 5. But I do not have time quite yet to write it up.

As a quick reminder (to myself as much as anything), we talked about the problem, two different approaches to agreement (conflict vs. assignment), the separation of syntax from pronunciation, the evolution of phrase structure rules into X-bar structures and the reasons (like German V2, negative inversion) why we might believe there is only one (non-adjunct) spot before the head. In the end, it looks like we will need some mechanism that allows sharing of features between the specifier (that one spot to the left of the head) and the head, in addition to the propagation of features from the head to the constituent it heads.

Anyway, this will all be written up more carefully and clearly, later today.

[Note: This has now been done. The October 10 handout]