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Consider the sentence:
die Frau liebt der Mann
It is clear that ``der Mann'' must be the subject and ``die Frau'' the accusative object, but how does constraint propagation derive this conclusion.
``liebt'' must be the root of the sentence since it is the only finite verb.
``der'' cannot be the determiner for ``Frau'' since it comes after it.
therefore ``Mann'' is the only possible head for ``der''.
as a consequence, ``Mann'' cannot also be head of ``die''.
thus, only ``Frau'' can be head of ``die''.
due to the agreement constraint, ``der Mann'' must be nominative:
therefore ``Mann'' cannot be the accusative object of ``liebt''.
the only role left for ``Mann'' is to be subject of ``liebt''.
therefore, the only role left for ``Frau'' is to be object of ``liebt''.
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