Toward a General Theory of Nonlocal Readings of Adjectives

Abstract

Adverbial readings of adjectives (as in The occasional sailor strolled by) have been a longstanding curiosity, but are often thought peripheral and idiosyncratic. This paper argues that such nonlocal readings are both more common and more systematic than previously recognized. The empirical aim here is to demonstrate that despite some real idiosyncrasies, the regularities are sufficient to require a unified account. Adjectives that give rise to these readings fall into three classes distinguished by the restrictions they impose on the quantificational force of their determiner. These restrictions and the unexpected wide scope of the adjective can both be explained by assuming that the relevant adjectives are quantificational, trigger QR from inside the DP, and leave behind a type-shifted trace.