Movement and interpretation of quantifiers in internally-headed relative clauses
Rebecca Jarvis
September 2023 

This paper addresses the semantic typology of internally-headed relative clauses using a case study of two West African languages, Atchan (Kwa) and Bùlì (Gur). Both languages exhibit syntactically-similar relatives, involving overt movement of the head. However, quantifiers on the head are interpreted differently in the two languages. In Atchan, quantifiers on the relative-clause head take the entire relative clause as their restriction; in Bùlì, quantifiers on the head take only the head noun as their restriction. I propose that the former is interpreted via NP reconstruction and Trace Conversion, the latter via DP reconstruction. The empirical difference between these two languages motivates a revision to the typology developed by Grosu (2012), which tightly links head movement and the Atchan-like quantifier interpretation pattern. This work further supports a a modular view in which languages can adopt different strategies to interpret movement-involving structures.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/008460 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	SALT 33 Proceedings
keywords:	relative clause, quantification, syntax-semantics interface, african languages, semantics, syntax
Downloaded:	381 times

 

[ edit this article | back to article list ]