Only scope in English and German

Abstract

Only is traditionally defined as a propositional operator.  Yet, syntactically, only can attach to a DP.  One response is to modify the semantics, so that only can compose with a DP to form a quantifier (e.g. Rooth 1985).  An alternative response is to modify the syntax.  In one analysis, overt only is taken to be an inert focus marker at the DP-level, whose morphology reflects concord with a covert ONLY taking propositional scope (e.g. Quek & Hirsch 2017, Hirsch 2017, after Bayer 1996, 1999, Lee 2004, Hole 2015, 2017).  In this talk, we provide novel evidence for the latter approach by comparing the scope behavior of only in English and German.  Our aim is to show that the data in both languages follow for free from independent constraints in the concord analysis. This talk reports on joint work with Michael Wagner (McGill University).

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