Tesis doctoral de Susagna Tubau Muntañá
Negative concord (nc) is analysed as a syntax-morphology interface phenomenon. It can be classified as strict or non-strict depending on whether n-words necessarily co-occur with the sentential negative marker (snm) in all contexts or not. In non-strict nc, only post-verbal n-words must co-occur with the snm; pre-verbal n-words cannot occur with the snm without yielding double negation. adopting the minimalist program and the distributed morphology model, it is argued that two post-syntactic operations determine the distribution of n-words with respect to the snm both in standard and non-standard english, and in romance. Standard english n-words such as nobody, nothing and the like are assumed to be non-negative indefinites. standard english is analysed as having the structure of an nc language. However, obliteration, a pf operation triggered by a language-particular filter that disallows the accidental repetition of negative features in the same spell-out domain, prevents n-indefinites from co-occurring with the snm. when obliteration cannot rescue the violation of the filter, impoverishment applies. It deletes the (uninterpretable) negative feature of an n-indefinite and results in the insertion of a default form of the any-set. phase theory determines whether an n-word and the snm are in the same spell-out domain. Assuming the complement of a phase head to be sent to transfer at the end of a phase, object n-indefinites that raise to spec, negp, as well as subject and fronted n-indefinites occur in the same spell-out domain as the snm. Conversely, object n-indefinites that remain vp-internal, are not in the same spell-out domain as the snm. While in standard english n-words obligatorily raise to spec, negp, they do not have to in non-standard english. This explains why post-verbal n-indefinites can co-occur with the snm in both strict and non-strict nc varieties of non-standard english. Data from the fred corpus show that obliteration is also attested non-strict nc varieties of british english as, like standard english, these are constrained by the filter that prevents two negative features from being accidentally repeated in the same spell-out domain. the conclusions for non-standard british english can be extended to african american english (aae), which mostly implements a system of strict nc. For some aae speakers, though, nc is non-strict. such variability in the nc-type makes the study of negative inversion (nl) in aae extremely interesting as obliteration is unexpectedly suspended in nl constructions even for those speakers with a system of non-strict nc. I claim that focus is involved in nl, which explains why the negated auxiliary precedes the subject. Obliteration is argued to be blocked on semantic grounds, as it would result in a syntactic structure that would be interpreted as a question if the snm were obliterated. for non-strict nc romance languages (e.G. Italian and spanish), obliteration applies with pre-verbal n-words, in being in the same spell-out domain as the snm. Post-verbal n-words, conversely, co-occur with the snm because negation is merged on top of tp. It is further argued that romance n-words are underspecified for polarity, which allows them to occur in a wide range of contexts, including negative constructions. Standard french bears striking similarities with standard english. The snm pas cannot co-occur with n-indefinites in any contexts and is affected by obliteration. Like in standard english, negation in french is assumed to be merged on top of v*p. Raising of n-words to spec, negp results in obliteration both with pre- and post-verbal n-words. finally, strict nc romance languages (e.G. Romanian) do not display the effects of pf-operations because they are not sensitive to the filter that prevents two negative features from accidentally occurring in the same spell-out domain.
Datos académicos de la tesis doctoral «Negative concord in english and romance: syntax-morphology interface conditions on the expression of negation«
- Título de la tesis: Negative concord in english and romance: syntax-morphology interface conditions on the expression of negation
- Autor: Susagna Tubau Muntañá
- Universidad: Autónoma de barcelona
- Fecha de lectura de la tesis: 02/06/2008
Dirección y tribunal
- Director de la tesis
- Josep Quer Villanueva
- Tribunal
- Presidente del tribunal: María teresa Espinal farre
- josep Quer villanueva (vocal)
- hedzer h. Zeijlstra (vocal)
- johan Rooryck (vocal)