Symmetry in the Asymmetric Universe: Remarks on Kayne (2022)

Abstract

Kayne (2022) has proposed that the asymmetry of syntax be built into the fundamental operation of Merge itself. This squib reviews some of his proposals and supporting evidence. Departing from Kayne, this squib hypothesized that the asymmetric patterns mainly lie in the functional domain of syntax, and the lexical domain may remain symmetric either within a language or cross-linguistically. The Functional Asymmetry Hypothesis (FAH) is supported by the global symmetry of the VO/OV word order, the commutative conjunction structures in the lexical domain, and the free ordering of event-internal adverbs. If the observation is on the right track, it suggests that the asymmetry of syntax, while empirically robust, cannot be entirely reduced to the operation Merge.