Some Parameters of English

L322

Parameters are properties that individual languages have that differentiate them from other languages. It has been assumed that there is a universal set of parameters for languages to draw upon, though there is no hard core evidence to support this interesting view. However, we shall assume it here without argument. Although lexical entries differentiate one language from another, lexical entries are not considered parameters.

The following contains a list of some parameters that we covered in L322:

(1)     Rule:     [+Q] in English is [+Strong] if the clause containing [+Q] is a root clause, if it is adjoined to T, and the subject of the clause containing [+Q] is not a WH-word.

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