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Clitic left dislocation and inverse scope: Plain indefinites versus numerals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2022

DESPINA OIKONOMOU Open the ORCID record for DESPINA OIKONOMOU [Opens in a new window] ,
FELIX GOLCHER Open the ORCID record for FELIX GOLCHER [Opens in a new window]  and
ARTEMIS ALEXIADOU Open the ORCID record for ARTEMIS ALEXIADOU [Opens in a new window]
DESPINA OIKONOMOU
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany despina.oikonomou@hu-berlin.de; despina.oikonomou@alum.mit.edu
FELIX GOLCHER
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany felix.golcher@hu-berlin.de
ARTEMIS ALEXIADOU
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany and ZAS Berlin artemis.alexiadou@hu-berlin.de
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Abstract

The syntax of Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) has been widely debated due to its mixed properties, which in some cases indicate movement (e.g. island sensitivity, certain connectivity effects) and in other cases base generation of the CLLD-ed phrase (wide scope, lack of weak crossover). In this paper we discuss scope facts with CLLD in Greek, revealing a contrast depending on the type of quantifier. We present experimental evidence that whereas CLLD-ed plain indefinites take wide scope, CLLD-ed numerals can get a low scope interpretation. We argue that the inverse scope interpretation with CLLD-ed numerals is only apparent, presenting, in fact, an instance of split scope between the degree quantifier and the existential operator. This analysis presents evidence in favor of a movement analysis for CLLD, thus patterning with the observation that binding reconstruction is possible. At the same time, the non-availability of scope reconstruction with CLLD is attributed to stricter locality constraints which have been discussed for quantifier raising as opposed to other types of movement and dependencies.

Keywords

clitic left dislocationdegree quantifiersGreekindefinitesnumeralsquantifier scopesplit scope
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 2022 , pp. 847 - 886
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

First, we are grateful to our reviewers and editor for their constructive feedback which has greatly improved the present paper. We would also like to thank Stephanie Solt and Lisa Bylinina for their valuable feedback and constructive comments. In addition, this work has been greatly benefited from the feedback we received at various venues, especially from the reviewers and the audience at the 8th Biennial Experimental Pragmatics conference (XPRAG) at the University of Edinburgh in 2019 and the workshop ‘The meaning of numerals’ at ZAS. This work would not have been possible without our participants in Greece who took part in our study. For their technical knowledge and help we would also like to thank Jörg Dreyer, who kindly provided us with more than just the necessary equipment at the Phonetics Laboratory of ZAS for our recordings, and Marilena Tsopanidi for offering multiple times to record the target sentences. Also many thanks to Kiriaki Balamoti for assisting us with testing at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. Of course, all errors are our own responsibility. This work was been funded by AL 554/8-1 (DFG Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Preis 2014 to Artemis Alexiadou).

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