ABSTRACT
The substantial broadening of the empirical basis of syntactic theory in the 1980s has resulted in a better understanding of the general architecture of syntactic structures and syntactic theory. * Syntactic structures are large structures, assembled out of small simple building blocks with a unique structure design. With large structures and simple design, the hypothesis that structural variation between languages is minimal or non-existent can be reasonably entertained. Linguistic variation can be seen as the result of different movement options being exercised (which constituents move, how "big" are these constituents, Kayne (1995), Koopman (1994), Koopman (1996), Sportiche (1995), Chomsky, (1995)) operating on fixed and crosslinguistically invariant structural skeletons (Sportiche (1995), Koopman (1996), Cinque (1997)). Seriously testing this hypothesis, however, presupposes a good understanding of the invariant skeletal structure, which is all too lacking.
