ABSTRACT
This paper extends the empirical range of the hypothesis explored in Jelinek (1993a) and Diesing and Jelinek (1995), proposing that all argument hierarchies involve the direct morphosyntactic registration of the presuppositionality scale, via mapping of arguments to the restrictor or nuclear scope zones of the clause. In particular, the paper discusses ergativity splits, object shift, differential object marking, dative/accusative marking, clitic placement, and voice alternations, all of follow from the restrictions on arguments that can appear within the VP and hence within the nuclear scope (only non-presuppositional potential variables). Elements that appear high on relational hierarchies (animacy, specificity, definiteness, topicality, presuppositionality) are mapped high in the clausal tree, to the restrictor. This paper provides detailed exemplification of the idea that relational hierarches are epiphenomena derivable from a single underlying principle mapping syntactic structures to semantic interpretations.
