Penka & Zeijlstra on Negative Indefinites

[New at LingBuzz:]

Doris Penka & Hedde Zeijlstra. “Negative Indefinites in Dutch and German”. September 2005

This paper provides an explanation for split-scope readings in Dutch and German, where negative indefinites such as “geen X” or “kein X” (”no X”) can obtain a reading in which some element, e.g. a modal verb, intervenes between the negation and the indefinite part. The autors show that negative indefinites in Dutch and German are lexically complex elements that consist of a negative and and an indefinite part. The authors demonstrate that as a consequence of the copy theory of movement such negative indefinites yield split-scope readings. The paper concludes by arguing that split-scope readings, negative concord and licensing of negative polarity items are three different phenomena, each taking place in a different component of grammar.