Scrambling, LF Lowering, and Optimality
Leyla Zidani-Eroğlu · KU ScholarWorks (The University of Kansas) · 1999
Tins paper presents empmcal data from Japanese, Turkish and Hmd1 which show that an analysis ofscrambhng allowmg phrases to freely surface base generate and subsequently lower to a VP-internal theta pos1t10n at LF (Boskov1c and Takahashi 1998, B&T henceforth) 1s crosslrnguistically inadequate Under the assumpt10n that 'scrambled' phrases are freely base generated, it becomes mysterious that some phrases cannot scramble Moreover, some observed LP lowering is not motivated by the requirement of the scrambled phrase to have its theta features checked but rather 1s motivated by the requirement that some operators must remam clause bounded at the relevant level of representation, presumably LF This correctly captures the difference m mterpretation between two scope taking elements dependmg on whether or not they are clausemates Add1t10nally, data on WCO (weak crossover) and bmdmg m Hmd1 and Turkish clearly exhibit counterexamples to the proposed LF lowermg of' scrambled' phrases 1 Traditional Analysis Scrambling, be it short distance or long distance, has been viewed to be an optional overt S-structure adJunctmn operat10n (HoJi 1985, Saito 1985, among others) This mstance of Move a. moves a constituent from its D-structure theta position and adJoms it to the IP of the root clause ( 1 ), for mstance, illustrates an example of short distance scramblmg The direct object which 1s base generated m its canomcal position, (la), has been moved to sentence lillttal position where 1t is IP-adJomed (le) The resultmg structure 1s given m (le) Examples (1)-(4) are from Saito 1989