Negative Polarity and Scalar Semantics in Spanish
Raúl Aranovich | University of California Davis
Licensing of NPIs in Spanish varies depending on the semantics of the trigger. Nonveridical operators license n-words, and antiveridical operators license ni-minimizers. I argue that the NPIs that can occur in antiveridical contexts have a scalar presupposition, but those that are licensed in strictly nonveridical contexts are non-scalar. In this analysis, n-words are scalar (incorporating a silent ni ‘even’) in the scope of antiveridical operators. The distinction between scalar and non-scalar NPIs, I suggest, is the reason for the diversity of polarity sensitivity phenomena in Spanish, as well as in other languages.
Keywords: Negation, n-word, negative concord, polarity, Spanish, scalar implicature, comparative, minimizer, antiveridical operator
Published online: 07 March 2008
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.30.2.03ara
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.30.2.03ara
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Cited by 2 other publications
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