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Seth Cable Semantics and Generative Grammar Fall 2011 Ling610 1 Final Exam You have until Monday, December 19th to complete three of the four questions below. You may talk with me in person or over e-mail about any questions you might have on any of these problems (within reason). You are also free to consult with others, but each person is responsible for writing up their own distinct answers. Note: Except for the following problems, you are not required to write out any truth-conditional derivations: (i) Exercise 1, Question 1, (ii) Exercise 2, Question 3, (iii) Exercise 3, Question 5, (iv) Exercise 4, Question 1 (1) Type Shifting and the Scope of DPs Recall that sentence (a) is ambiguous, and has either of the T-conditions in (b) or (c). a. A girl likes every boy. b. ‘Surface Scope’ Reading There is some x such that x is a girl and for all y, if y is a boy, then x likes y (True only if some particular girl (Mary) loves every boy) c. ‘Inverse Scope’ Reading For all y, if y is a boy, then there is some x such that x is a girl and x likes y. (True as long as every boy is loved by some girl (not necessarily the same) Recall the special type-shifting operator introduced under (25) in the handout Quantificational DPs, Part 3: Covert Movement vs. Type Shifting. d. [[ SHIFTInverse ]] = [ λd<et, <et,t> : [ λg<et> [ λf<eet> [ λh<et,t> : d(g) ( [ λxe : h ([ λye : f(x)(y) = T ]) = T ] ) = T ]]]] e. Question 1: Show how the operator in (d) allows us to derive reading (c) of sentence (a). Recall that sentence (f) is ambiguous in a manner similar to sentence (a), and can have either the T-conditions in (g) or (h). f. Dave didn’t see a dog. g. ‘Wide Scope’ Reading of A Dog There is an x such that x is a dog and Dave didn’t see x. h. ‘Narrow Scope’ Reading of A Dog It is not the case that there is an x such that x is a dog and Dave didn’t see x.Seth Cable Semantics and Generative Grammar Fall 2011 Ling610 2 i. Question 2: Explain why the operator in (d) is not sufficient to derive the ‘wide scope’ reading of sentence (f). j. Question 3: Introduce a new type-shifting operator that would allow the ‘wide scope’ reading in (g) to be derived. k. Question 4: Recall how the ‘VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis’ will allow the covert movement account to predict the narrow scope reading in (h). Would this VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis also predict the possibility of the surface scope reading of (1a)? Within some syntactic theories of ‘Case licensing’, every direct object in English moves up to the edge of the VP to get their Accusative Case licensed. Thus, the LF of a sentence like (l) would be that in (m). l. Surface Structure of Transitive Sentence: [S Dave [ 1 [VP t1likes Bill ] ] ] m. LF of Transitive Sentence: [S Dave [ 1 [ Bill [ 2 [VP t1likes t2 ] … ] Moreover, under these syntactic theories, it is a necessary consequence that this movement for Case licensing must be covert, and could never be overt. n. Question 5: With the syntactic assumptions above in mind, please evaluate the following statement: Neither the ‘movement account’ nor the ‘type-shifting account’ clearly offers a superior theory of the scope of quantificational DPs. While it’s true that the ‘type-shifting account’ must introduce additional operators like (d), the ‘movement account’ must introduce additional stipulations concerning the behavior of so-called ‘covert movement’. In the end, both accounts end up adding an equivalent amount of complexity to the grammar. (2) Copulas and Predicative NPs Let us consider again sentences like the following, where an NP seems to function as a main predicate. a. Barack is a man. Recall that we’ve thus far assumed that in these sentences both the copula is and the indefinite article a have identity functions as their extension, as illustrated below.Seth Cable Semantics and Generative Grammar Fall 2011 Ling610 3 b. [[ is ]] = [ λf<et> : f ] c. [[ a ]] = [ λf<et> : f ] Now let’s consider sentences like the following. d. Barack is Joe. e. Barack is the president. f. Question 1: Please explain why our semantics in (b) will not allow us to interpret this sentence structure. g. Question 2: Please provide a semantics for is that will allow sentences like (d) and (e) to be interpretable, and will predict them to have the following T-conditions. (i) “Barack is Joe” is T iff Barack is Joe. (ii) “Barack is the president” is T iff Barack is the unique y such that y is a president. Now, let’s recall that in sentences like (h), the indefinite article a is assumed to have the semantics in (i). h. A man likes Barack. i. [[ a ]] = [ λf<et> : [ λg<et> : there is an x such that f(x) = T and g(x) = T ]] j. Question 3: Show that sentence (a) is interpretable under the assumption that the indefinite article a has only the semantics in (i) and the copula is has only the semantics you developed for Question 2. In your opinion, are the T-conditions derived accurate for sentence (a)? k. Question 4: In light of your answer to Question 3, discuss the relation between sentences (l) and (m). Does your analysis predict that they are semantically equivalent? Either way, is your prediction accurate? l. Barack is not a liar. m. Barack is no liar.Seth Cable Semantics and Generative Grammar Fall 2011 Ling610 4 (3) Adverbs and Events In this course, we developed a theory of adjectival modifiers, according to which they are either functions of type <et> or of type <et,et>. a. [[ male ]] = [ λxe : x is male ] b. [[ young ]] = [ λf<et> : [ λxe : f(x) = T and x is below the average age for { y : f(y) = T ] In this exercise, we will develop a theory of adverbial modifiers, such as quickly and around South College. c. Adverbial Modifiers: (i) Dave walked quickly. (ii) Dave walked around South College. Let us first consider the notion that these modifiers are of type <et>, as follows. d. [[ quickly ]] = [ λxe : x is quick ] e. [[ around South College ]] = [ λxe : x is around South College ] f. Question 1:


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