Blurb:

The final chapter will explore a more recent development in Harmonic Grammar, namely the concept of gradient symbolic representations (Smolensky et al. 2014, Smolensky & Goldrick 2016, Verıssimo 2016, Rosen 2016, Zimmermann 2017, Putnam & Klosinski 2017, Muller to appear). The crucial idea is that that symbols can have different degrees of ‘activations’, meaning that the constraint violations they induce are not absolute. I will review some initial work that has argued that these can be used in syntax (Muller to appear). Additionally, further applications of gradient symbols will be discussed for transparency effects related to head movement (e.g. Stepanov 2012), as well as null operator constructions.