Rethinking the Syntax of SPEC-INFL in the Miracle Creed Framework

Abstract

This paper investigates the syntax of SPEC-INFL within Chomsky’s (2023) Miracle Creed (MC) framework, guided by Principle T, which demands interpretability at the conceptual-intentional (CI) interface. SPEC-INFL is analyzed as a hybrid position combining clausal and propositional features through phase-internal Internal Merge (IM). The paper addresses three empirical issues: the placement of a subject wh-phrase as predicted by the Vacuous Movement Hypothesis (VMH), (anti-)that-trace effects, and sub-extraction from subjects. It proposes that elements in SPEC-INFL can undergo further IM when they acquire secondary semantic roles, challenging Chomsky’s (2023) ban on it. The analysis integrates mechanisms like feature inheritance and Spec–head agreement for labeling. Anti-locality effects are argued to be interface-based processing constraints rather than syntactic ones, explaining extraction patterns from subjects. Overall, the current study refines the MC framework’s account of SPEC-INFL, offering principled solutions to long-standing syntactic phenomena of elements in SPEC-INFL while preserving core minimalist assumptions about structure-building and interpretability.