ABSTRACT
The grammar of any particular language can be regarded as simply a specification of values of parameters of universal grammar (UG). This chapter shares a conception of universal grammar in which the grammars of particular languages are special cases: the categories, rules, and constraints on rules of any particular language must be chosen from those specified to exist by UG. It presents a formal conception of UG where it is made explicit just how one chooses particular categories, rules, and constraints from those provided by UG to form the grammars of particular languages. A general consequence of the proposal is that typological universals logically follow from a correct statement of UG. The chapter provides one proposal for incorporating into the universal base rules involving unbounded 'movement' whose outputs are interpreted by variable binding operators. It provides a uniform treatment, both syntactically and semantically, for passive on predicates of different number and categories of arguments.
