Bruening 2001: QR obeys Superiority #
[Bru01] accounts for frozen scope: I gave a child each doll has only the surface reading while its dative counterpart I gave a doll to each child is ambiguous, and the freezing is not an inability to move, since it holds between two objects but not between an object and the subject, and it disappears under passivization. Quantifiers raise by attraction to a head bearing a P-feature; by Shortest ([Ric97]) the attractor takes the structurally highest candidate first, and later movements tuck in beneath, so the attraction order, and with it the scope order, is the base order.
The contrast then follows from structure alone. In the double object construction the first object asymmetrically c-commands the second ([BL86], [Lar88], [Pyl08]), so only the goal can be attracted first and scope is frozen; in the locative the direct object and the PP are co-arguments that c-command each other, so either may go first and scope is free. The subject sits in the attracting head's specifier, outside its domain, which is why the second object can still scope over it and why a passivized double object construction is ambiguous again.
References #
Attraction under Shortest #
A quantifier the P-feature-bearing head can attract is one in its c-command domain. The subject, merged in the head's specifier, is not among them.
Equations
- Bruening2001.Attractable tree head x = tree.CCommands head x
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Shortest licenses attracting x first only when no other candidate asymmetrically c-commands
it, since such a candidate would form a smaller well-formed pair with the attractor. Thus x is
a closest goal among the candidates.
Equations
- Bruening2001.LicensedFirst tree head qs x = tree.isClosestGoalIn head x fun (x : Minimalist.SyntacticObject) => x ∈ qs
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Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Since later movements tuck in beneath earlier ones, the quantifier attracted first takes widest scope, so scope is ambiguous exactly when two candidates may be attracted first.
Equations
- Bruening2001.Ambiguous tree head qs = ∃ x ∈ qs, ∃ y ∈ qs, x ≠ y ∧ Bruening2001.LicensedFirst tree head qs x ∧ Bruening2001.LicensedFirst tree head qs y
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A candidate that some other candidate asymmetrically c-commands is never attracted first, whatever interpretation moving it first would produce.
Two candidates that c-command each other both satisfy Shortest, since the pairs they form with the attractor are equivalent, so either may be attracted first.
The double object construction #
The light verb bearing the P-feature that attracts quantifiers ([Kra96]'s Voice).
Equations
- Bruening2001.v = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.Voice [Minimalist.Cat.V] "v[P]", id := 400 }
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The applicative head introducing the first object ([Pyl08]).
Equations
- Bruening2001.appl = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.Appl [Minimalist.Cat.D] "Appl", id := 402 }
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Equations
- Bruening2001.gave = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.V [Minimalist.Cat.Appl] "gave", id := 404 }
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- Bruening2001.ozzy = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.D [] "Ozzy", id := 406 }
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The first object, the goal.
Equations
- Bruening2001.aGirl = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.D [] "a girl", id := 407 }
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The second object, the theme.
Equations
- Bruening2001.everyTelescope = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.D [] "every telescope", id := 408 }
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The preposition of the locative variant.
Equations
- Bruening2001.toP = ↑{ item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of Minimalist.Cat.P [Minimalist.Cat.D] "to", id := 409 }
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{Ozzy, {v, {gave, {a girl, {Appl, every telescope}}}}}. The first object is the argument of
the applicative head, merged above the projection containing the second, so it asymmetrically
c-commands it.
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The quantifiers competing for attraction in the double object construction.
Equations
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The first object asymmetrically c-commands the second ([BL86]).
Only the first object may be attracted first, so the derivation fixes the base order and the second object cannot come to scope over the first: I gave a (#different) child each doll.
No two candidates may be attracted first, so the double object construction is unambiguous.
The locative variant #
The PP that pied-pipes the goal.
Equations
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{Ozzy, {v, {gave, {every telescope, {to, a girl}}}}}. The direct object and the PP are
co-arguments of the same head, hence sisters, and c-command each other.
Equations
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The candidates in the locative, the direct object and the PP that pied-pipes the goal.
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Direct object and PP c-command each other, so neither asymmetrically c-commands the other.
Either candidate may be attracted first, so the locative is ambiguous: I gave a doll to each child has both readings.
The freezing is relativized #
The subject is merged in the attractor's specifier, outside its c-command domain, so it never competes with the objects for attraction, and either object can take scope over it even where the two objects' relative scope is frozen.
The passive of a double object construction. With no external argument, the goal raises to the subject position, out of the attractor's domain, leaving the theme as the only candidate.
Equations
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In the passive the derived subject is no longer attractable while the theme is, so Shortest imposes no order between them and the ambiguity returns: a (different) girl was given every telescope.