Deterministic mapping and dependencies : a syntax/semantics interface account of crossover and specificity

This thesis proposes an analysis of weak crossover (WCO) in terms of conflicting interface economy principles. These principles apply to representations resulting from a transparent mapping between Rizzi’s (2001a) LF syntax for specific vs. non-specific chains and a refined version of Elbourne’s (2005) semantics for traces/copies and pronouns. While pronouns are endowed with a referential index, copies of Q-phrases are devoid of it, due to their quantificational nature. In standard WCO, the underspecified index on the trace is compelled by economy to get a value, through linking (Higginbotham 1983), from the closest potential indexbearing element, that is the intervening WCO pronoun. This local process of valuation yields a redundancy effect with the process of mapping the underspecified copy into the same variable by a generalized version of Heim & Kratzer’s (1998) Predicate Abstraction Rule (Del tto & Fiorin 2009). I argue that WCO effects can be circumvented by overtly moved specific Q-phrases. In order to establish the relevance of specificity in WCO contexts systematically, a formalization of the notion of specificity and a operational definition of specificity are provided, drawing from the literature. Concerning the formalization, specificity is analyzed by enriching the syntactic representation for Q-phrases, extending Elbourne’s (2005) analysis of definites: indefinites are not endowed with a referential index, but they always contain a (usually silent) NP that restricts the domain (Stanley 2000). In Elbourne’s (2005) system, this restriction is of same semantic type of the definite DP index - <e, t>. With respect to the operational definition, a range of constructions affected by specificity of the extracted DP are used as tests to support the claim that overtly moved Q-phrase circumvent WCO. These facts are explained as a consequence of the LF chains to which specific phrases give rise under Rizzi’s (2001a) treatment, and the format for indefinites: the NP-restriction moves to a Topic position, thus, under Rizzi’s (2001a) mechanism of shrinking, its domain restriction is set free and is made available, as a referential index, for the whole DP. It follows that the intervening WCO pronoun is irrelevant for index-valuation and no redundancy arises in this case. The restriction of covertly moved Q-phrases cannot form an independent chain, as a consequence of the very nature of covert movement. So, the embedded index of the NP-restriction is buried in its original position and the whole DP trace remains devoid of an index, leading to WCO effects.