Checking Theory and Grammatical Functions in Universal Grammar

Much recent work on linguistic form and meaning has been guided by the idea that the computational system of natural language is essentially invariant, even rather simple, and that the apparent variety of expressions in typologically different languages reduces largely to small modifications in the morphological component of the system. Ura's theory of multiple feature-checking develops the basic idea in original and highly productive ways, providing persuasive answers to difficult questions that arise in widely-ranging languages, and opening up new and challenging problems. It is an impressive achievement, which merits careful study. * Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *