Bounds and Coercion

Abstract

In this chapter, I first outline some ways in which languages can vary and propose that these variations can be captured by placing endpoints at different positions in the phrase structure. Once this system is set up, however, a new question arises. Some of the meanings that are achieved in certain languages with overt morphology are achieved in other languages through coercion. In the last section of this chapter, I suggest that coercion is achieved through a system of zero morphology that mirrors overt alternations in other languages.