1887
Volume 41, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0378-4169
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9927
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Abstract

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 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 come in two variants: a plain and a variant, both of which enter into a Negative Concord relation with abstract semantic negation. The scalar NPI variant corresponding to across other Gallo dialects, or to in Standard French, is and it is the negator (minimizer) that provides the necessary scalarity component characteristic of N(P)Is (formally the scalar feature [+σ]) to the plain indefinite . 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.

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2018-08-27
2025-02-09
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