Thematic section
On negative indefinites in Gallo
Evidence for non-intrinsically negative (scalar) negation
Samantha Becerra-Zita | LLING UMR 6310 CNRS/Université de Nantes
Hamida Demirdache | LLING UMR 6310 CNRS/Université de Nantes
This paper brings to bear primary fieldwork data from Gallo on negation and polarity related issues. We defend two correlated
proposals. (i) The negative markers pas/pouint in Gallo are not inherently negative, but rather merely signal the
presence of abstract semantic negation in their clause. (ii) In (at least) the Morbihan dialect of Gallo, the negative markers
pas/pouint come in two variants: a plain and a scalar variant, both of which enter into a
Negative Concord relation with abstract semantic negation. The scalar NPI variant corresponding to aoqhun across
other Gallo dialects, or to aucun in Standard French, is pas/pouint aoqhun and it is the negator
(minimizer) pas/pouint that provides the necessary scalarity component characteristic of N(P)Is (formally the
scalar feature [+σ]) to the plain indefinite aoqhun. As a corollary, adapting Labelle & Espinal (2014), the shift from indefinite to (N)PI involves transfer of a scalar feature from a
minimizer to an indefinite.
Keywords: negation, negative concord, Negative Indefinites (NIs), scalarity, scalar negation, Negative Polarity Items (NPIs)
Article outline
- Introduction
- 1.Negative indefinites in French
- 2.Negative Concord in Gallo
- 3.On the status of pas and pouint in Gallo
- 3.1Non-intrinsically negative negation
- 3.2Scalar negation
- 4.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
Published online: 27 August 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.00015.bec
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.00015.bec
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