Maria Bittner, Case, scope, and binding. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994. Pp. x + 202.

Abstract

Case, scope, and binding is an investigation of the relation between the sstructure level of syntactic representation and semantic interpretation, with particular focus on the syntax and semantics of the Inuit language. Bittner's proposal is that s-structure is the default LF, thus determining all the scope options up to and including the default scope, which for any operator is its s-structure sister. In support of her claim Bittner sets out on an ambitious task that encompasses several domains: she presents a universal theory of syntax, proposes a theory of cross-linguistic semantics, and provides an indepth syntactic and semantic analysis of a particular language, West Greenlandic Inuit (Eskimo-Aleut).Chapter 1 begins with an examination of the different scope options available in three languages -English, Hindi and Inuit -and the proposal that this cross-linguistic variation in scopal relations reflects the corresponding variation at s-structure. S-structure is a key component in Bittner's theory, as she assumes that this abstract level of syntactic representation determines structural Case assignment, agreement and syntactic binding relations as well as minimum scopes. In the first part of chapter i Bittner presents a theory of Case and agreement that derives and constrains s-structure representations.