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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 26, No. 0, pp.175-197
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2026
Received 09 Dec 2025 Revised 11 Jan 2026 Accepted 17 Jan 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.26..202601.175

Separate Dimensions Associated with Functional Head

Ji-hyun Sung
Lecturer, Department of Nursing at Dongwon Institute of Science and Technology rebeccasung279@gmail.com


© 2026 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This study investigates the concept of Separate Dimensions (SD) as discussed in Chomsky (2021), focusing on their nature, generation, and compatibility with the Strong Minimalist Thesis (SMT) and Computational Efficiency (CE). It addresses how asymmetric syntactic complexes can optimally integrate into the primary workspace. The working hypothesis proposes that Head mediates between primary workspace operations and SD creation. The paper analyzes the combination of syntactic objects with SDs generated by Heads and examines the principles linking SDs back to the main workspace. Building on Chomsky’s (2019b) concepts of disjunction and conjunction, disjunction is treated as Head-Adjunction and NP formation through adjectival modification within one SD. Conjunction (n ≥ 2) includes multiple adjectives modifying a noun with referential similarity, as well as relative clauses linking to the stem structure. The analysis follows criteria for computational legitimacy, no violation of the NTC (No Tampering Condition) or ICC (Inclusiveness Condition), valid SD generation, and specific stem-structure linkage. Head-Adjunction is analyzed as the stage where √Root is placed in the workspace. Disjunction (n=1, single SD) examines noun phrases modified by adjectives and verb phrases modified by adverbs. Conjunction analyzes noun phrases modified by multiple adjectival phrases and relative clauses having a separate dimension through adverbial modification, aiming to elucidate the stages of full sentence formation.

Keywords:

computational efficiency, Head, separate dimension, form set, disjunction, conjunction, referential similarity, modification relation.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2023S1A5B5A17086566).

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