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    If the distributive reading arises from a covert distribu... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The collective-distributive ambiguity in sentences like 'John and Jane moved a piano' is not due to an ambiguity in the conjunction 'and'

    If the distributive reading arises from a covert distributivity operator (D-operator) adjoined to the VP, as argued by Roberts (1987) and Lasersohn (1995), then the ambiguity is VP-level, not conjunction-level, and the supporting argument merely relocates rather than eliminates a structural ambiguity.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.D-operators provide a principled mechanism grounded in standard compositional semantics rather than ad-hoc pragmatic disambiguation.
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    • 2.VP-level ambiguity is empirically testable through scope interactions with quantifiers, making the account falsifiable.
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    • 3.Relocating ambiguity to VP-level explains why distributivity correlates with specific syntactic positions, not arbitrary pragmatic contexts.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Positing covert operators merely defers the explanatory burden without eliminating the core problem of ambiguity representation itself.
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    • 2.D-operators lack independent motivation beyond explaining this specific phenomenon; they appear tailored to the problem rather than independently justified.
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    • 3.The claim that relocation solves the problem equivocates: structural ambiguity at VP-level is equally problematic as at conjunction-level.
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    Key Terms

    Adjoined(in linguistic structure)
    Attached or added to something else as a connected element; in grammar, it means a phrase or operator is attached to another part of the sentence.
    Conjunction-level(in grammar analysis)
    Referring to a 'conjunction,' which is a word that joins phrases or clauses (like 'and,' 'or,' 'but'). Conjunction-level means the ambiguity or problem exists at that joining point.
    Covert(in linguistic analysis)
    Hidden or not directly stated in the sentence—something that's grammatically there and affects meaning but isn't written out as actual words.
    D-operator(in formal linguistics)
    A 'distributor operator'—a theoretical grammatical element that linguists propose exists in sentences to trigger the distributive reading, even though you can't see or hear it explicitly.
    Distributive reading(in linguistics and logic)
    A way of interpreting a sentence where you apply something separately to each item in a group, rather than to the group as a whole. For example, 'John and Mary ate pizza' could mean they each ate pizza individually (distributive) or shared one pizza together (non-distributive).
    Roberts (1987) and Lasersohn (1995)(as academic sources)
    Citations to academic papers published by linguists Craige Roberts and Peter Lasersohn in those years, in which they argued specific theories about how distributive readings work in grammar.
    VP(in grammar and syntax)
    Short for 'verb phrase'—the part of a sentence that includes the verb and everything that goes with it (like objects or modifiers). Example: in 'John quickly ate pizza,' 'quickly ate pizza' is the VP.
    structural ambiguity(Contrasted with lexical ambiguity of names or definite descriptions)
    Ambiguity arising from the syntactic structure of a sentence (e.g., differences in scope) rather than from multiple meanings of a word

    Connections

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    Philosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    D-operators lack independent motivation beyond explaining this specific phenomen...D-operators provide a principled mechanism grounded in standard compositional se...Positing covert operators merely defers the explanatory burden without eliminati...Relocating ambiguity to VP-level explains why distributivity correlates with spe...

    Details

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    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
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    +3 moreShow less
    The claim that relocation solves the problem equivocates: structural ambiguity a...The collective-distributive ambiguity in sentences like 'John and Jane moved a p...VP-level ambiguity is empirically testable through scope interactions with quant...