The Evolution of Logical Form from Principles and Parameters to the Minimalist Program

Logical form or Covert syntax is a syntactic level introduced in recent generative approaches. Using the ideas of first-order predicate logic, it interprets the strings whose elements cannot move in s–structure, because an element moves if it does not acquire its necessary scope. But unlike the predicate logic, logical form is based on syntactic principles and rules. Therefore, logical form is a syntactic level, a level with no phonetic representation. Although its main function is to interpret structures, it is not a complete semantic component. Logical form has two different interpretation methods in GB theory and the minimalist program. This article seeks to analyze these differences. It concludes that: 1. the main rule in GB theory – raising rule – cannot interpret sentences with two quantifiers perfectly, and 2. using fewer procedures, logical form in the minimalist program is more efficient than the one in GB theory.