Japanese Scrambling as Growth of Semantic Representation

In this paper I show how with syntax defined as the progressive projection of semantic representations along the left-right dimension provided by the sequence of words, natural explanations can be provided for scrambling of NPs in Japanese which follows from general principles of tree growth, retaining an integrated characterisation of local and nonlocal scrambling, which nevertheless captures the differences between them. In place of concepts of movement, concepts of structural underspecification representing partial semantic representations are invoked, with growth of such structure within a derivation following the time-linear dynamics of parsing. The explanation of scrambling will involve linear order irreducibly.Article