On the status of NCIs

An experimental investigation on so-called Strict NC languages

Bibliographic Data

ID10140409
AuthorsM Teresa Espinal (0000-0002-8079-7253, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, corresponding author), Eloi Puig‐Mayenco (0000-0002-5622-8018, King's College London), Urtzi Etxeberria (0000-0001-6560-1614, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Susagna Tubau (0000-0002-3677-6607, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona)
Year2023
Volume60
Issue4
Pages715-755
Publication date2023-08-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-2267 • E-ISSN: 1469-7742
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022226723000221
OpenAlexW4386163284
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited74

This paper investigates the status of Negative Concord Items (NCIs) in three so-called Strict Negative Concord (NC) languages (namely, Greek, Romanian, and Russian). An experimental study was designed to gather evidence concerning the speakers’ acceptability and interpretation of sequences with argumental NCIs in subject, object, and both positions when dhen/nu/ne were not present. Our results show that NCIs are negative indefinites whose presence in a clausal domain is enough to assign a single negation reading to the whole sequence, thus arguing in support of the hypothesis that in NC structures the minimal semantic requirement to convey single negation is that one or more NCIs encoding a negative feature appear within a sentential domain. We argue that in these structures dhen/nu/ne are the instantiations of a negative feature [neg] disembodied from an indefinite negative NCI in order to obey a syntax–phonology interface constraint

Distinctive feature · Domain (mathematical analysis · Feature (linguistics · Linguistics · Negation · Object (grammar · Romanian · Subject (documents · Syntax · Computer Science · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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