Bošković (2004) argues that floating quantifiers (FQs) cannot appear in argument positions, appealing to Chomsky’s (1986) ban on adjunction to arguments. While acknowledging the correctness of the empirical generalization he identifies—namely, the ban on floating quantifiers in θ-positions (BFQT) —this paper points out several conceptual and theoretical problems with the rationale proposed to derive it. I argue instead that the relevant distribution of floating quantifiers follows when a QP and an NP undergo a one-to-one Symmetric Merge, forming the unordered set QP, NP, which is subsequently processed by the computational system of the Strong Minimalist Thesis through labeling and movement. This analysis not only successfully derives BFQT but also resolves a range of outstanding problems for previous approaches, such as the impossibility of extracting an NP from an adjunct structure and the absence of non-floating counterparts corresponding to floating quantifier sentences. The proposed account thus offers a more principled and minimalist explanation of floating quantifier phenomena, relying solely on Merge and computational operations sanctioned by current minimalist theory.
Gwangrak Son (Sat,) studied this question.