Somber prospects for late merger

Abstract

I discuss the phrase-structure-theoretic operation of Late Merge proposed in Lebeaux 1991 as it is used in late adjunct merger and wholesale late merger. I show that under current theoretical assumptions about the nature of the Merge and Move operations, Late Merge over-generates in ways that are difficult to overcome. Given that Late Merge is otherwise demonstrably computationally unparsimonious (Kobele and Michaelis 2012), I conclude that it should not be an available operation and suggest Neglect (Sportiche 2016) as an alternative to generate the needed Logical Form representations.