Light heads and predicate formation: on two scopes of discontinuity

Abstract

Abstract The present article addresses the problem of syntax-semantics mapping of syntactically complex structures that are interpreted as semantically simple terms. While these morphosyntactic mechanisms have been successfully applied to roots in Marantz’s framework, more complex structures turn out to be formally and conceptually challenging. To solve these problems, I make use of Cooper’s type-theoretic framework to propose a formal account of Transfer. I apply this to verbal idioms and direct quotation, whose parts do not obtain the idiomatic/quotational reading. The main result is a formal account of light heads providing the operation of predicate formation within cyclic derivations.