more semantics

[Gert Webelhuth]

Hi,

concerning disambiguation at LF, I don't have access to May's book
right now, but here are some excerpts from Huang's chapter on LF in
the textbook on GB that I edited (that's probably why I remembered
this in the first place):

Pages 135ff:

"... the contrast brought to light by May (1985), concerning the
relative scope of wh-phrases and quantifiers:

(31) What did everyone buy for Max
(32) Who bought everything for Max"

[GW: (31) is assumed to be scopally ambiguous depending on the scopes of
"what" and "everyone" relative to each other; (32) is assumed to be un-
ambiguous with "who" taking scope over "everything"]

"May ... assumes that in such a structure as (31), where "what" and
"everyone" are in a mutual government relation, either operator may be
interpreted as having wider scope than the other, whence the ambiguity
of (31) arises."

[Huang goes on to explain that in (32) the only LF that can be derived
that doesn't violate the ECP [or Pesetsky's Path Containment
Condition] is one where "everything" does not govern "who" and
therefore only one of the two possible scopes is allowed, namely the
one where the subject has scope over the object quantifier. Huang's
wording in the quote above, e.g. "either operator may be interpreted
..." to me suggests that LF is assumed to be subject to further
interpretatation. Perhaps ambiguities that LF leaves unrepresented 
would be represented at that level.]

Best,

Gert