ABSTRACT
Chapter 4, “Minimal search and phonological phrasing,” crystallizes the notion of externalization in the context of a strict internalist perspective on language and proposes an interpretive theory of prosodic domains that does not have recourse to Multiple Spell-Out. In the syntactic framework incorporating the Labeling Algorithm, it is pointed out that an interpretive asymmetry exists between syntax and phonology, in that syntactically inert, unlabelable elements like a root R are phonologically interpretable. Given this, a syntactic object SO is interpreted as a phonological phrase if such an unlabelable element is detectable with minimal search within the SO. This approach has more empirical consequences than the Multiple Spell-Out theory of phonological phrasing. In particular, it sheds light on the role of agreement in prosodic domain formation, which probably has never been recognized in the study of phrasal phonology. Furthermore, the processes of linearization are reconsidered, so that the three prosodic domains are unified in terms of linearization: a prime for the linearization of syntactic terminals, that for the linearization of the SOs, and that for the non-syntactic linearization are interpreted as prosodic word, phonological phrase, and intonational phrase, respectively.
