Distributing arguments

Abstract

We examine several cases of object movement from various languages, and demonstrate that the syntactic behavior of objects can be derived from certain conditions on LF representations. Conditions on LF relevant to the distribution of arguments are identified as relative scope fixing and type mismatch repair. These two conditions interact with the multiple semantic types that may be assigned to NPs (cf. Partee 1987) to induce movement of certain objects out of the VP, universally by LF and parametrically in the overt syntax. Diesing's (1992b) Mapping Hypothesis combined with the multiple NP types predicts that quantificational NPs in object position will have to undergo movement by LF. This movement is forced by the principles of semantic composition as a mechanism of type mismatch resolution. The existential closure operation over VP is claimed to be genuinely unselective: any NP that introduces a free variable and does not receive an existential interpretation must move out of the scope of existential closure (and thus out of the VP) by LF. Pronouns are variables, limited in semantic type assignment, that by virtue of their definiteness cannot be bound by existential closure and must move out of its scope. In Egyptian Arabic, object pronouns escape from the VP via attachment to a verb that raises to adjoin to an Aspect inflectional head above the VP. The movement of object pronouns and definite/specific NPs in Scandinavian is also associated with verb movement.

Linguistic complexity and information structure in Korean: Evidence from eye-tracking during reading☆

“…The association of elements higher on the definiteness hierarchy is supported by Keenan (1976), who states that "highly referential" NPs such as pronouns and proper nouns can always be subjects, by Givón (1979), who shows that subjects are usually definite, and by the fact that in a number of languages subjects cannot be indefinites (Aissen, 2003;Diesing & Jelinek, 1995;Foley & Van Valin, 1984;Kroeger, 1993). The association of elements lower on the hierarchy with objects is supported by Keenan (1976), who cites Philippine languages in which objects cannot be definites (at least with non-relativized verbs).…”

Argument hierarchies and the mapping principle

“…We have already seen one example of object shift in this paper, that of the positioning of specific DPs in German, seen in examples (5) (Adger 1997), and particle shift in English (Diesing and Jelinek 1995) to name only a few.…”

“…Clitic Raising Diesing and Jelinek (1995) claim that relative scope in Egyptian Arabic However, these clitic pronouns are tightly bound to the inflected verb.…”

When bare nouns scope wide. The case of Malagasy

“…There is, however, an important difference: in German, unlike in Malagasy, indefinites can undergo object shift, in which case they are interpreted as specific. See Diesing and Jelinek (1995) for discussion. I return to German briefly in Sect.…”