On the interaction of adjective modifiers and relative clauses

This paper addresses data concerning the interpretation of adjectives such as first, last and only when they modify the head of a relative clause, as discussed by Bhatt (2002). The “low” readings for these modifiers are shown to be much more restricted in their distribution than is predicted by the reconstruction analysis; if these interpretations are derived by allowing the head NP+modifier to be interpreted in the position of the “gap” in the relative clause this results in considerable overgeneration. A generalization is proposed for the distribution of the available readings, and it is argued that the phenomenon of “Neg-Raising” is implicated in their interpretation.