Presyntactic bundling and how to spot it

Within modern models of syntax, syntactic derivations and the resulting structures are determined by lexical items and the features they bear (Chomsky 2001; Borer 2005; Boeckx 2014). This talk discusses how morphosyntactic features are distributed across lexical items. According to the ‘One Feature per Lexical Item’ hypothesis, each lexical item consists of exactly one syntactic feature (Cinque and Rizzi 2009; Kayne 2005). Under the alternative hypothesis, multiple features can be ‘presyntactically bundled’ on a single lexical item. Here, I argue for the necessity of presyntactic bundling on the basis of interrogative constructions in Igbo (Niger-Congo; Nigeria). I show that maintaining the ‘One Feature per Lexical Item’ hypothesis requires a form of post-syntactic bundling which does not capture key properties of these constructions. More broadly, I discuss diagnostics for presyntactic bundling rooted from its derivational timing, which distinguish it from available alternatives. An implication of permitting presyntactic bundling is that it renders superfluous c-selection as the mechanism which governs order within extended projections. Instead, it favours an approach involving an extra-syntactic ordering of functional categories (e.g., Grimshaw 2005).