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The review evaluates Bode's interpretation of Simplest Merge and its implications for universal grammar and labeling.

April 24, 2026Open Access

Simplest Merge Is All We Have in Syntax: The End of Syntax Indeed?

Key Points

The review evaluates Bode's interpretation of Simplest Merge and its implications for universal grammar and labeling.
Critical analysis of Bode's work on linguistic minimalism.
Examination of theoretical and empirical issues related to Simplest Merge and labeling/Transfer.
Discussion of the islandhood of adjuncts and conflict resolution in labeling.
Bode's concept of universal grammar emphasizes the importance of Simplest Merge.
Labeling is critically linked to the idea of Transfer in linguistic theory.
Despite challenges, Bode's approach warrants further exploration.

Abstract

This article is a critical review of Bode's (2020) recent work on linguistic minimalism, according to which UG constitutes the structure-building operation Simplest Merge (Epstein, Kitahara, and Seely (2015, 2017) ). Bode argues that the islandhood of adjuncts is a function of the way a confl ict in "labeling" the set of two non-heads, i. e. XP, YP, resolves (Chomsky (2013 (Chomsky (, 2015) ) ). The key proposal is her equation of labeling with "Transfer" (Chomsky (2004 (Chomsky (, 2008) ) ). I scrutinize the workings of Simplest Merge and labeling/Transfer, taking up several contingent theoretical and empirical issues. I conclude that despite the challenges, Bode's general conception of UG is one to be pursued further.

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