So local a movement: Degree fronting in English nominals
Jamie Douglas
November 2020
 

This paper focuses on degree fronting constructions in English, i.e. examples like ‘how beautiful a tree’ or ‘so local a movement’. I argue that such constructions involve movement of an AP, triggered by an [A(djective)] category feature, rather than movement involving a degree element with pied-piping of an adjective. Evidence comes from observations that degree fronting is nominal-bounded and sensitive to the intervention of higher APs. I discuss some consequences of this analysis for the treatment of examples like ‘what a beautiful tree’ or ‘such a local movement’, and emphasise that the interpretation and/or function of a movement need not be formally encoded in the syntax in a uniform way. Comments welcome!
Format: [ pdf ]
Reference: lingbuzz/005567
(please use that when you cite this article)
Published in: n/a
keywords: syntax, degree fronting, english, locality, intervention, syntax
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