LINGUIST List 17.2506
Thu Sep 07 2006
Diss: Semantics/Syntax: Moscati: 'The Scope of Negation'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Vincenzo
Moscati,
The Scope of Negation
Message 1: The Scope of Negation
Date: 07-Sep-2006
From: Vincenzo Moscati <moemit.edu>
Subject: The Scope of Negation
Institution: University of Siena
Program: Ph.D. in Cognitive Science
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2006
Author: Vincenzo Moscati
Dissertation Title: The Scope of Negation
Linguistic Field(s):
Semantics
Syntax
Dissertation Director:
Luigi Rizzi
Gabriele Usberti
Dissertation Abstract:
The overt realization of sentential negation is subject to a broadcross-linguistic variation, while the logical representation of thenegative operator seems to be unaffected by those surface variations.The logical scope of negation can then be unified regardless of languagespecific differences by means of an operation reminiscent of QR, labelledNegation Raising.
This operation is supported by different kinds of evidence based on theinteractions between the negative operator and other kinds of operators. Itis shown that in languages where the Sentential Negative Marker appears ina position immediately dominating the VP, the negative operator is able tobe interpreted taking wide scope over modal operators which dominate it atPhonetic Form.
In accordance with a cartographic approach to the clause architecture(Rizzi 1997), a specific position where the negative operator could beinterpreted is identified within the complementizer's system. This proposalis supported by the presence of many languages which express sententialnegation through the use of Negative Complementizers. A complete survey ofthose languages is given, including, among others, Irish, Italian, Englishand Basque. Another argument in favour of the presence of a negativefeature in the CP system is given by the fact that negative sentences canbe object to phrasal selection. Assuming that selection is a local processwhich involves the highest position of the embedded clause, negativesentences can be selected only if a negative feature is allowed to appearin the topmost node, in conformity with the Clause Typing Hypothesis(Cheng 1991). The syntactic operation of Negation Raising seems then to bewell supported and also a possible landing site for the logic operatormight be identified within the complementizer's layer.
The operation might be further refined and formalized in Minimalisticterms, capitalizing on a chain-formation mechanism based on the notion ofAgree. The framework adopted is the one proposed in Pesetsky and Torrego(2004), which allows to enlarge the scope of the negative operator avoidingsome of the redundancies given by a more traditional feature-coping mechanism.
The system proposed is then tested enlarging the empirical base, and thediscussion is then extended also to negative quantifiers, polarity itemsand the so called N-words (Laka 1990). The case of Italian is considered atlength, and new arguments are given in favour of lexical ambiguity ofitems such as 'niente' and 'nessuno'. This new account allows to solve someof the problems (Watanabe 2004) related to ellipsis resolution andfragment answers with negative quantifiers can be treated in accordancewith Merchant's (2001) proposal.
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