9319371 Peters This project will undertake a comparative study of the relation between syntax and semantics, taking as a case study an intensive investigation of the syntactic realizations and interpretive possibilities for reciprocal constructions. Reciprocals are particularly well-suited for an investigation of the syntax-semantics interface because they distill and combine characteristics of a number of other constructions. Syntactically, reciprocals may be realized as pronouns, as verbal affixes, or as adverbials. In the first two respects, they have much in common with pronominal and intransitivizing reflexive constructions. Semantically, reciprocals behave as semantic operators, sharing characteristics with quantifiers. The project has two overall aims: to explore correlations between the syntactic realization of the reciprocals and its interpretation, and to examine the semantics of reciprocity and the status of the reciprocal as a semantic operator. Because of the complex, multifaceted nature of reciprocals, an investigation of reciprocity will illuminate the syntax and semantics of other constructions whose characteristics they share: the syntax and semantics of anaphoric relations and syntactic valence-reducing operations, the semantics of plural noun phrases, and the syntax and semantics of other scope-bearing operators such as negation and quantification.
