Summative Assessment 2
Due Date: Thursday Week 1 Spring Term. 12.00 noon
The classical approach to the assignment of scope to Quantificational
Phrases (QPs) is via the rule of Quantifier Raising (QR). QR has a special
status in syntactic and semantic theory because of two special characteristics: It operates covertly and it is clause bound. The former means that the
effects of QR are only detectable in interpretations (different meanings for
the same surface structure). The latter means that any given QP can only
take scope within the clause in which it is generated. In other words, QR always targets one position, namely an adjoined position to IP/TP. We have
however discussed examples like the following which challenge the clause
boundedness of QR:
(1) (At least) one/a judge recommended that we free every prisoner
In this example a scope reading as in (2) is possible:
(2) every prisoner > (At least) One/a judge
Meaning that for every prisoner a potentially different judge recommended that they be freed. With this in mind consider the following questions:
- What is the significance of these sentences for the operation of QR
and its locality constraints? (HINT: consider the fact that there are
other movement processes, such as wh-movement that are indeed unbounded. Think of the mechanisms involved there. What are the
predictions?) - Are long distance inverse-scope readings available with all types of
QPs? (Think of the types of QPs that we discussed them). - How would the feature-based theory of scope account for such data
within a phase based approach to structure building?
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Write a 2000 word essay addressing the above questions. An important
aspect of the work will be to choose the right way to structure your essay
and your argument. In other words, you should think very carefully about
the relationship between the different questions above.
You must submit through the usual Departmental e-submission
portal. Submission must be in PDF format only.
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