By
HENRY OBURU ONYEDIBIA
Abstract
Following the appreciable inroads achieved in the 21st concerning the studies of humanlanguages,
many values have been found to be specifically of human monopoly as can be empirically2
observed in the notion of Merge, Move and language designs. One of the remarkable and yet
unbeaten revolutions of human language studies is the Principles and Parameters notion of human
grammar. It presented an unchallenged debunk of the superioritypropaganda which beset language
studies and appreciation. This paper attempted an inroad into the complexity of human language
design. It realised that one aspect of this task involvedthe socio-cultural milieu; which influences
specific language designs according to the environmental requirements of language creation. It
considered the importance of the mechanics of language computation based on the Minimalist
parlance. The paper also showedthat the design of language is largely influenced by the syntactic
requirements of the languageenvironment and that economy constraints are conditions precedent
in the procedure. It realised that wh-words must move leftward or rightward according to the lexical
habitation and rules of the language. However, this paper exceptionally noticed that wh-words in
Ogbah canmove in either direction orremain insitu.
Keywords: Computation, Move, Merge, Design, Economy.
Theoretical framework
The research content of this paper is based on the Minimalist Program (MP) of Chomsky (1995,
2004). The choice of this framework is motivated by the need to subject some of the research
assumptions which the Program has accumulated to further inquiry; some of which appear to be
unreviewed. Fraction of that review is attempted in this paper through the vent of comparative
syntax involving English and the Ogbah language. The MP is said to be an extension of the
Principals and Parameters (P&P) framework which centres on the universal and idiosyncratic
paradigms of world languages. Some of the assumptions of the MP have beensubjected to empirical
tests through the application of the P&P. According to Muller (2016:114, 85) “The Principles and
Parameters model nevertheless remains interesting for cross-linguistic research”. He noted earlier
that; “Investigating languages on their differences with regard to certain assumed parameters has
proven to be very fruitful line of research in the last few decadesand has resulted in an abundance of
comparative cross-linguistic studies”.
Literature Review:
Language Design and Economy
According to Al–Mutari (2014:41) “economy” is “understood in terms of general constraints on
representation and the derivation ofsyntactic objects”. The concept of ‘economy’in the MP parlance
is hinged on disallowing redundancy and costly moves; syntactic representations should be
minimised to basics, while moves should adhere to subjacency conditions. Note the following
examples presented in Chomsky (1995a:181 as quoted in Al-Mutari 2014:42):…
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