Embedded Quantifiers in 'Which'- and 'Whether'-Questions
Yael Sharvit
2002
Semantics and Linguistic Theory
Quantified noun phrases in WH-complements of find out-type verbs seem to exhibit exceptional wide scope. In this they diffe r from quantified noun phrases in complements of wonder-type verbs. This paper attributes this contrast to Quantificational Variability. The Main Claim Many quantified noun phrases (henceforth, QNPs) in which-interrogative clauses embedded under verbs of the find out-class (i.e., find out, know, remember, discover, etc.) may have exceptional wide scope (Szabolcsi 1997) .
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... at is to say, they may be understood as having scope over the embedding verb. This is illustrated in (1) fo r the QNP exactly three men: (1) John fo und out which woman exactly three men love. Can mean: "exactly three men are such that John fo und out which woman each of them loves." That the wide scope of exactly three men in (1) is truly exceptional can be inferred from (2) , which shows that exactly three men cannot scope out of a which-interrogative when the embedding verb belongs to the wonder-class (wonder, ask, inquire, etc.; see Szabo lcsi 1997); from (3) , which shows that exactly three men cannot have wide scope when embedded in a whether interrogative (c£ Karttunen and Peters 1980); and from (4), which shows that exactly three men cannot have wide scope when embedded in a declarative. (2) John wonders which woman exactly three men love. Cannot mean: "exactly three men are such that John wonders which woman each of them loves." (3) John fo und out/wondered whether exactly three men left. Cannot mean: "exactly three men are such that John fo und out/wondered whether each of them left." (4) John fo und out that exactly three men left. Cannot mean: "exactly three men are such that John fo und out that each of them left." Rather than claiming that which-complements of find out-type verbs are exceptional in that they allow QNPs to move out of them at LF (as opposed to © 2002 by Yael Sharvit B. Jackson (ed), SALT XII 266-285, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. EMBEDDED QUANTIFIERS IN WHlCH-AND WHETHER-QUESTIONS whether-complements, and to which-complements of wonder-type verbs, which do not), I claim that the wide scope of the embedded QNP in cases such as (1) is only apparent. It is, in fa ct, a Quantificational Variability (henceforth, QV) effect. Accordingly, the abstract analysis of (1) looks more like (5a) (where the embedded question is moved above the embedding verb) than like (5b) (where the QNP itself is moved above the embedding verb).
doi:10.3765/salt.v12i0.2863
fatcat:m6onslotafbfvnhcxknq6bngiy