Bracketing Paradoxes and Adjunction

A bracketing paradox refers to the phenomenon that there are two contradictory demands on the analysis of a word like unhappier. The word unhappier must be analyzed as [[un happy]er], if we consider the scope relation between un and er, but the syllable constraint requires it to be analyzed as [un [happy er]]. This article explores the possibility of resolving various types of bracketing paradox by making use of adjunction structure. According to this approach, various types of bracketing paradoxes, including the unhappier type, follow if we assume that there is parallelism between word formation and phrase formation. More specifically, I claim that (i) certain morphemes like un are adjunct morphemes, (ii) affixation takes place in the course of deriving a word as well as in the course of generating a phrase, and (iii) bracketing paradox arises when affixation takes place across an adjunct.