On the mistaken identity of negated epistemics

The focus of this paper is the characterization of Spanish subjunctive complements to negated epistemic predicates (e.g., creer ‘to believe’), other negated predicates (e.g., ver ‘to see’), and emotive predicates (e.g., lamentar ‘to regret’). I illustrate that various properties of subjunctive complements to negated epistemics overlap with the other two types, a novel observation. I claim that negated epistemic predicates manifest with either an evidential (like indicative-selecting predicates) or evaluative (like emotives) function, accounting for the overlapping properties. Furthermore, the pragmatic classification of the predicate affects the type and scope of negation. Finally, I claim that the subjunctive mood in true negation-triggered contexts is due to anti-veridical semantics, which has the effect of creating an unbounded complement clause event.

• Affiliations: 1: University of Iowa