The core of Optimality Theory (OT) lies in these ideas: Constraints are universal. Constraints can be violated. Grammars are rankings of constraints. The optimal form from among the set of competing candidates is grammatical, all non-optimal candidates are ungrammatical. An optimal output form for a given input is selected from among the class of competitors in the following way: A form which, for every pairwise competition involving it, best satisfies the highest-ranking constraint on which the competitors conflict, is "optimal". OT, while originally developed for phonological analysis, is a general theory of constraint interaction, and several recent pieces of research suggest that it extends in interesting ways to the domain of syntax. The research described in this proposal builds upon this earlier work, and addresses two fundamental questions concerning syntactic theory which can be addressed under OT assumptions in ways which differ significantly from prior approaches. The first question concerns the relationship between the syntax of a language and its lexicon. The position is often taken that the lexicon of a language determines its syntax. Indeed it has been asserted that all grammatical variation among languages is reducible to lexical differences. The current project takes a different line, and aims to show that many grammatically significant lexical properties of languages (perhaps all?) can be derived from their grammars, i.e. from the ranking of universal constraints which constitutes their grammars. The second question concerns the universality of constraints, a question that is clearly tied in a central way to the idea of constraint violability. The core hypothesis of OT is that every constraint is present in the grammar of every language. This contrasts sharply with the view that constraints vary "parametrically"; a view in which the form a constraint takes in one language need not be the same in all. The project research focuses strongly on the predictions and problems raised by this hypothesis about universal grammar
