By Terje Lohndal, Juan Uriagereka
‘Parameters in minimalist theory: The case of Scandinavian’ ( henceforth, PMT), by Anders Holmberg, is an interesting attempt to defend the view that ‘deep parameters’ should be part of the grammatical system. PMT argues that parameters should be seen as points of ‘underspecification’, and in part as 3rdfactor effects in the sense of Chomsky (2005) – thus casting doubts on attempts to locate parametric variation in the lexicon and at the interfaces. In our view, however, PMT does not quite make the case for a ‘deep parameter’. In examin-ing this case, we also seek to clarify the relationship between parametric theo-ries and acquisition, and more generally ‘underspecification’.