E. G. Ruys

Weak Crossover as a Scope Phenomenon

This article investigates the proper characterization of the condition that is responsible for weak crossover effects. It argues that the relevant condition belongs to scope theory and that weak crossover arises from the way in which scope is determined in syntax. This implies that weak crossover can occur whenever an operator must take scope over a pronoun, even when the pronoun and the operator are not coindexed and the intended interpretation of the pronoun is not as a variable bound by the operator. It also implies that, when an operator is for some reason assigned scope in an exceptional manner and escapes the usual syntactic restrictions on scope assignment, bound variable licensing will be exceptionally allowed as well.

Dutch Scrambling and the Strong-Weak Distinction

It was first argued by Kerstens (1975) that the meaning of indefinite NP objects in Dutch is affected by scrambling. Kerstens claimed that whether an indefinite NP is [+quantificational] or not (in the sense of Milsark 1974) depends on its absolute position in the structure: it is [+quantificational] iff it is outside VP at S-Structure. This hypothesis has more recently been revived and extended to other languages by De Hoop (1992) and Diesing (1992). In this paper, I will attempt to show that there is insufficient empirical support for this generalization. Although the meaning of a structure containing an indefinite object NP undoubtedly varies with the position of the NP relative to other constituents, it is doubtful whether it can be shown that the semantics of the NP itself depends on its absolute position.

Quantifier Scope in Formal Linguistics

The remarkable efficiency of language acquisition and linguistic communication must rely on some systematic mapping relating forms and meanings. As a result of this understanding, the study of the relations between syntactic and semantic descriptions has become a central element of all formal linguistic theories. Problems of quantifier scope constitute a perennial challenge for uncovering the relations between form and meaning. In some notorious examples, a linguistic element behaves semantically like a logical quantifier, but in a way that is not predicted from straightforward assumptions about its semantics or its position in the syntactic description. In many of these cases, a quantificational expression semantically behaves as if it appeared in a different position than its actual position in the sentence. Such effects are often referred to as inverse scope effects. Standard mechanisms that account for these phenomena often complicate the relations between the syntax and the semantics of natural language. As a result, much research has been devoted to the problem of quantifier scope, in an enduring attempt to reveal the status and the theoretical significance of scope shifting principles in formal linguistics.

A Note on Weakest Crossover

Conditions on variable binding are of two types:those that (roughly) require a pronoun to be A-bound, and those that ban locally -bound pronouns. While the two types are usually felt to be extensionally equivalent, argue here on the basis of weakest crossover that the former type, which fits the Minimalist Program better, is also empiri cally superior.

A minimalist condition on semantic reconstruction

This article explains three known constraints on scope reconstruction—reconstruction is blocked into wh-islands, after remnant movement, and after countercyclic merger—by postulating an underlying condition on semantic reconstruction, which follows naturally from Minimalist assumptions on chain interpretation in combination with the principle of compositionality. The result is a unifying alternative analysis of the data discussed in Cresti 1995, Fox 1999, and Sauerland and Elbourne 2002, among others.

On the Anaphoricity of Too

Kripke (1990/2009) argues that the presupposition triggered by the additive particle too is anaphoric in nature, an influential thesis with important ramifications for the theory of presupposition. This article reexamines the empirical evidence and proposes an alternative explanation, leaving too with only its traditional existential presupposition.