ABSTRACT
In this paper, Jelinek and Diesing investigate the syntax and semantics of object movement constructions in Egyptian Arabic, Icelandic (and other Scandinavian languages), and English. They extend Diesing’s Mapping Hypothesis to address the behavior of quantified, indefinite, and pronominal objects, showing that their behavior in all of these languages is consistent with the requirements of the Mapping Hypothesis, namely, that existentially interpreted indefinite NPs remain within the VP at LF while quantified objects, definite objects, and pronominals escape the VP at LF, to appear outside the scope of existential quantification. They demonstrate the distinction between movement motivated to represent quantifier scope, and movement motivated to resolve a type mismatch, a distinction frequently obscured in previous work. The movements posited occur in the service of semantic interpretation—they are functional in that sense—but are restricted by the inventory of syntactic operations available in the language and are thus purely formal in character. The paper is important as an early example of work validating the Minimalist Program’s precept that syntactic representations must meet well-formedness conditions imposed by the interpretive interfaces, in this case, the semantic/conceptual interface. It prefigures the even broader exploration of this theme in other languages by Jelinek and Carnie (2003, reprinted in this volume) and is a classic example of Jelinek’s lifelong pursuit of formal analyses with functional grounding.
