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Detail of contribution

Auteur: Harris CONSTANTINOU

Co-Auteur(s): Hans VAN DE KOOT, UCL, GB

Titre:
Accounting for the Scopal Effects of Intensifiers


Abstract/Résumé: The Dutch intensifier zelf (himself) may appear adjoined in various positions in the sentence, provided it is anaphorically linked to a local c-commanding antecedent. These aspects of its distribution are explained if the relation holding between zelf and its antecedent is a syntactic dependency. Such dependencies are known to obey c-command, locality and uniqueness of antecedent (Koster’s 1987 ‘Configurational Matrix’). More remarkably, the intensifier affects the distribution of contrastive categories, as well as the scope of quantifiers. These facts can be explained if contrastive constituents have a scope (their domain of contrast) that is subject to the same conditions that govern quantifier scope (Neeleman and Van de Koot 2012). In the examples showing interaction of contrastive categories, the intensifier is marked with Contrastive Focus (CF; in single quotes) and cooccurs with a Contrastive topic (CT; in double quotes). CF and CT are associated with an A-accent and a B-accent respectively (Jackendoff 1972). A Topic cannot be in the scope of a Focus in Information Structure (IS): 1) a. "Topic" [...'Focus'...] b. * 'Focus [..."Topic"...] (1) reflects IS requirements and does not prevent a Focus from c-commanding a Topic in surface syntax. However, Neeleman and Van de Koot (2008, 2012) argue that (1b) interacts with the theory of scope in such a way as to prevent a Topic from being c- commanded by a moved Focus. This is because focus movement is a scope-marking operation and, by (1b), a topic cannot remain in the scope of a focus. This theory also explains why Antecedent-Adjacent (AA) zelf does not violate (1b) (see 2c) but Antecedent-Distant (AD) zelf does (see 2b). 2) a.Jan heeft "Marie" 'zelf' een paar woorden toegedicht John has Mary himself a couple words to-spoken b.*Jan heeft 'zelf' "Marie" een paar woorden toegedicht c.Jan'zelf' heeft "Marie" een paar woorden toegedicht It is also correctly predicted that intervention of an AA zelf will not block inverse scope of two quantifiers (see (4)), but an AD zelf will (see (3)). 3) a.Een engineer kon ieder probleem uiteindelijk 'zelf' op lossen An engineer could every problem finally self on solve (Een>Ieder, Ieder>Een) b.Een engineer kon uiteindelijk 'zelf' ieder probleem op lossen (Een>Ieder, *Ieder>Een) 4) dat tenminste twee meisjes Marie'zelf' in iedere klas een hand hebben gegeven that at least two girls Mary herself in every class a hand have given (Twee>Iedere, Iedere>Twee) Selected Reference: Neeleman, A. & van de Koot, H. A. (2012). Towards a Unified Encoding of Contrast and Scope. In Neeleman, A., Vermeulen, R. (Eds.). The Syntax of Topic, Focus and Contrast: An Interface-Based Approach. Mouton.