Re: Branching typologies [was: Re: "easiest" languages, SE Asian word-order typologies]

From: "David Peterson"

> << > (2) John met the man in the hall that had been handing out fliers
about the upcoming game.

> It's ambiguous in English what took place in the hall. If the meeting of
the

>     I would argue that this sentence is not ambiguous in English--that, in
> fact, it can only be read as John met the man who had been in the
> hall--whether or not they were still in the hall is not mentioned.  This
is
> because of where the relative clause kicks in.  If John were to have met
him
> in the hall, the sentence would have to be:
>
>     John met the man who had been handing out fliers in the hall.
> However, THIS phrase is ambiguous, in that John could have met him in the
> hall or the man could have been handing out fliers in the hall.  However,
in
> the first sentence, I don't think it can be read as "John met the man in
the
> hall"--"This man had been handing out fliers".  It doesn't seem correct...
Well, if we're going to play THAT game :)   :)   :)   :)

"John met the man in the hall that had been handing out flyers about the
upcoming game."

It's quite unambiguous since it is clear that it's the HALL that was handing
out the flyers (as relative pronouns, by all rights, should normally follow
the antecedents they modify). :)  :) :)

That original sentence sounded a _little_ funky to me grammatically, but
certainly understandable. To me, it sounds akin to expressions like "the
lady who was sitting on the corner's purse"; it may make your fifth grade
grammar teacher cringe, but it's perfectly understandable in everyday
parlance.

I agree with your analysis of the second sentence which you created; there
is the ambiguity you describe there. And from a totally literal, logical
interpretation of the first sentence, I guess you have a point. But I don't
parse every sentence I hear or read with a fine-toothed comb, and so for me
both sentences contain the same information and are equally ambiguous.
Perhaps "who" instead of "that" would have made a difference for me.

Kou