Topic: HUMAN SEMANTICS
Phase structure, Phrase structure,
and Quantification
by Jonny Butler
Source: Semantics Archive
I combine two areas of investigation in current syntactic literature:
(1) the structure of the clause contains layers of hierarchically ordered quantificational heads, situated above the temporal and verbal fields (Beghelli & Stowell 1997);
(2) the clause is built in phases -- subclausal building blocks with parallel properties.
I claim these two threads should be tied together, in that phases should be defined in terms of such quantificational layers. Precisely, I claim a phase consists of some property denoting head H, topped by some associated `little' head(s) h (as v over V) -- this, the phase domain -- surmounted by a CP layer -- the phase edge -- that encodes quantificational information to close off domain-internal variables. This derives a V phase, C > v > V (corresponding to the standard vP phase); a T phase, C > t > T, (the standard CP phase); also an N phase (DP/QP), C > n > N, where C = D. Treating phases in these terms derives the major facets of orthodox phase theory, but in a much more elegant, less stipulative way.
Cyclicity, for example, is captured as an expected property of the system, rather than by the stipulated Phase Impenetrability Condition of Chomsky (2000). Evidence for this reinterpretation of phase theory is adduced from:(1) The interpretation of QPs, treated uniformly like Heim (1982) indefinites: so any QP introduces a restricted variable, subject to closure by intra-clausal quantificational heads analogous to Heim's 9-closure operator.
(2) The structure and interpretation of temporal predicates, T/Perf/Prog, treated as embedding situation-denoting phases as internal argument, and introducing a situation variable, closed off by their own CP, as external argument.
(3) The interpretation and scope behaviour of modality, defined as quantification over possible situations: syntactically expressed as CP-/edge-level quantificational
heads operating over domain-level situation variables.
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Posted by Tony Marmo
at 17:24 BST
