Contents	9
	1. Introduction	13
	1.1 Stated aim	13
	1.2 The hard truth about the MP	15
	1.3 Further misgivings	21
	1.4 Presentation and terminology	30
	1.5 Mysterious paradigm mixing	34
	1.6 Empirical issues	38
	2. The Mechanism of the MP under Scrutiny	41
	2.1 Some “guiding ideas”	41
	2.2 A closer inspection of the “computational system”	44
	2.3 Conclusion	60
	3. The Language Faculty	61
	3.1 Principles and Parameters: a historical note	63
	3.2 Modularity and the random-generator position	67
	3.3 Chomsky’s ambiguous realism	71
	3.4 Instantaneous language evolution	81
	3.5 An alternative view of the language faculty	86
	3.6 Conclusion	106
	4. Questions of Method and Adequacy	107
	4.1 What can confirm or disconfirm a paradigm?	108
	4.2 Chomsky as a higher authority	123
	4.3 Ecologism and formalism	126
	4.4 What to do with evidence?	128
	4.5 Conclusion	134
	5. What Is Functional about the MP?	135
	5.1 The minimalist version of functionalism	135
	5.2 How perfect is language?	137
	5.3 Optimal language design and model building: the “fable”	140
	5.4 Language and communication	144
	5.5 The minimalist program is not minimalist	147
	5.6 Why choices? The case of Mauritian Creole	153
	5.7 Sociolinguistic factors	157
	5.8 Conclusion	159
	6. What Is Conceptually Necessary about the MP?	160
	6.1 Conceptual motivation for the random generator?	161
	6.2 Is the “displacement property” conceptually motivated?	172
	6.3 Conclusion	178
	7. Surface-Driven Elements of Semantic Interpretation	179
	7.1 The question stated	180
	7.2 Focusing strategies	185
	7.3 Presuppositions	195
	7.4 Operator scope	196
	7.5 Conclusion	199
	8. The Embarrassment of Evidence	201
	8.1 Deletion and Raising in infinitival complements	202
	8.2 Copying phenomena	226
	8.3 Existential there	228
	8.4 Conclusion	238
	References	241
	Index	249
	A	249
	B	249
	C	250
	D	250
	E	250
	F	250
	G	251
	H	251
	I	251
	J	251
	K	251
	L	251
	M	252
	N	252
	O	252
	P	252
	Q	253
	R	253
	S	253
	T	254
	U	254
	V	254
	W	254
	X	254
	Z	254
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