z-logo
open-access-imgOpen Access
Quantifier scope and information structure in Greek
Author(s) -
Despina Oikonomou,
Felix Golcher,
Αρτεμισ Αλεξιαδου
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
glossa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2397-1835
DOI - 10.5334/gjgl.1183
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , syntax , quantifier (linguistics) , linguistics , word order , computer science , semantics (computer science) , inverse , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , programming language , philosophy
In this paper, we investigate the availability of inverse scope interpretation in doubly-quantified sentences in Greek. A rather coarse and, as we show, inaccurate empirical generalization is that languages with relatively free word order do not have inverse scope readings, since movement is always spelled-out. In Greek there is little experimental work testing inverse scope with DP-quantifiers and there is considerable disagreement among linguists regarding its availability. Our goal is two-fold: i) to contribute towards a better understanding of the empirical facts and ii) to explore the relation between inverse scope availability and the syntax and semantics of different configurations. As we show, inverse scope is generally acceptable by Greek speakers, with the exception of environments with Clitic Left Dislocation. Our data add up to recent studies in other languages which suggest that the critical factor for the (non)-availability of inverse scope is the properties of each individual construction and not a dichotomy between different types of languages.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.
Having issues? You can contact us here