ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the feature-merging in unification-based grammars (UBGs) is introduced and then the advantages of a feature-merging account over a feature-copying account. There are two views of agreement and partial information: that agreement provides partial information about semantic or discourse objects; and concerns the specifications of features on the source and target of agreement. The claim is that either the source or the target may be only partially specified for the morphology relevant to agreement. The chapter shows that the source of agreement is fully specified with respect to agreement features. It also shows that the agreement relation ensures that these agreement features are exhibited by the targets, which underlie feature-copying accounts of agreement, are false, or at best lead to the proliferation of homophonous forms. The chapter discusses the treating agreement in terms of feature-copying is best seen as a reasonable, but that there is no justification for maintaining such an account in the light of examples.
