Markedness and Distribution in Phonology and Syntax

The notion of markedness has been used, in a variety of distinct but possibly related senses, for the description and analysis of phenomena involving both the syntactic and phonological structures of human languages. It has frequently been assumed that there is a single and relatively clear sense of markedness that is equally relevant to phonology and syntax alike, and this assumption, in fact, constitutes a crucial precondition for a number of general linguistic hypotheses that have recently been proposed--for example, Eckman (1977) and Comrie (1984). The basic notion of markedness, however, and a number of the most fundamental concepts associated with it--concepts such as “neutralization”, “mark”, “opposition”, “privative”, and “bilateral”--were first developed and exemplified, by Trubetzkoy (1939[1969]) and others, on the basis of phonological data alone. It thus remains to be determined whether this notion is indeed applicable in the domain of syntax or not. This paper will seek to address this question and to clarify thereby the general notion of markedness itself and its significance in the development of linguistic hypotheses.