ABSTRACT
This book is called Derivations for two reasons. First, the work is largely derivative, especially on the research of Noam Chomsky. To some extent that describes the work of most generative linguists, but mine derives also from work by others – notably, Howard Lasnik, my teacher, Richard Kayne and James Higginbotham – in pretty much the way a composer’s resumé presents variations on great pieces by the classical masters. I have no problem playing second (or nth) fiddle to these people, among other things because this allows me to perform at a level that I would otherwise never achieve, and that is both fun and (for me at least) useful. This is all to be honest with the reader who may dislike the research of these linguists; mine will follow suit. Hopefully the correlation also works in the opposite direction.
