Rethinking principles A and B from a Free Merge perspective

This squib sketches out the beginnings of a bottom-up, minimalist rethinking of pronominal reference constraints (essentially, principles A and B of the binding theory) in terms of an approach to grammar-internal optionality originally pursued in Biberauer & Roberts 2005, Biberauer & Richards 2006. By combining a movement theory of binding (Hornstein 2001; 2013; Kayne 2002; Abe 2014) with phase theory (Chomsky 2000 et seq.), the essential difference between local binding and local obviation reduces to the choice between Internal Merge and External Merge at the phase level, each yielding a distinct interpretive outcome at the conceptual-intentional (CI) interface. Further, if the phase constitutes the maximal domain in which linguistic constraints can apply, then interpretive freedom is expected beyond the phase level. In this way, restrictions on the interpretation of pronouns turn out to be the CI equivalent of ordering restrictions at the sensorimotor interface (PF), which likewise obtain up to the phase level but not beyond (Richards 2004; 2007).