scholarly journals On the tri-ambiguous status of 'any': The view from child language

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Shan Tieu
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Negative Polarity Item ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Npi Licensing ◽  
Polarity Sensitive ◽  
Shed Light

This paper examines the monolingual acquisition of the English polarity-sensitive item 'any', and uses evidence from child language acquisition to shed light on two questions that arise from the theoretical semantics literature. First, evidence from child spontaneous speech production is used to argue that children are grammatically conservative in their acquisition of negative polarity item (NPI) licensing. The same child data are then used to argue the following: (i) there is only one NPI 'any', subject to a disjunctive licensing condition; (ii) NPI 'any' differs in some way from free choice (FC) 'any', resulting in the later emergence of FC 'any'.

scholarly journals On the tri-ambiguous status of 'any': The view from child language

2015 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Lyn Shan Tieu
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Negative Polarity Item ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Npi Licensing ◽  
Polarity Sensitive ◽  
Shed Light

This paper examines the monolingual acquisition of the English polarity-sensitive item 'any', and uses evidence from child language acquisition to shed light on two questions that arise from the theoretical semantics literature. First, evidence from child spontaneous speech production is used to argue that children are grammatically conservative in their acquisition of negative polarity item (NPI) licensing. The same child data are then used to argue the following: (i) there is only one NPI 'any', subject to a disjunctive licensing condition; (ii) NPI 'any' differs in some way from free choice (FC) 'any', resulting in the later emergence of FC 'any'.

Bocado: scalar semantics and polarity sensitivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
pp. 1114-1136
Author(s):  
Patrícia Amaral
Keyword(s):  
Positive Polarity ◽  
Q Value ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Negative Polarity Item ◽  
History Of ◽  
Old Portuguese ◽  
Polarity Sensitive ◽  
Scalar Reasoning ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThis paper traces the developments of the noun bocado as it participates in two polarity-sensitive constructions in the history of Portuguese: the minimizer bocado ‘[not even] a bit’, a negative polarity item in Old Portuguese, and the degree adverbial um bocado ‘a bit’, which emerges in the 1700 s and is a positive polarity item. I adopt Israel’s (2011) grammar of polarity based on two lexical features, a quantitative value (q-value) and an informative value (i-value), in order to analyze the properties of these constructions as they reveal the interaction between lexical meaning and the logic of scalar reasoning. By applying this model in diachrony, I show how the logic of pragmatic scales underlies the patterns observed: a low q-value (lexical meaning) constrains the possible contexts of use of the expression in terms of the informativity of the propositions conveyed. Diachronic studies can thus shed light on the types of meaning associated with scalar terms as well as on types of scalar items.

A phase-based account of NPI-licensing in Turkish

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demet Kayabaşi ◽  
Murat Özgen
Keyword(s):  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Theoretical Problem ◽  
Direct Influence ◽  
Negative Polarity Items ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Polarity Items ◽  
Negative Polarity Item ◽  
Npi Licensing

Abstract There is a consensus in the literature that a negative polarity item is an expression that requires a licenser varying from overt negation to questions or conditionals (see Benmamoun 1997; Kelepir 2001; Kumar 2006; Kural 1997; Laka 2013; Mahajan 1990; Vasishth 1999). However, the licensing conditions of NPIs might have different accounts, which has not been fully discussed within the literature. This study aims to discuss whether phasemateness (in the sense of Chomsky 2001 and further) might have a direct influence on NPI-licensing. Based on preliminary observations, the fact that the derivation will crash if a domain containing negative polarity items is spelled out before being licensed by a negative verb suggests that licensing of negative polarity items may have to do with their positions in the derivation in coordination with the accessibility of the spell-out domains as well as with asymmetrical c-command relationships. The analysis has also an extension and an implication as to such theoretical problem as phasehood of DPs.

Acquisition of the polarity sensitive item renhe ‘any’ in Mandarin Chinese

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 861-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
AIJUN HUANG ◽  
STEPHEN CRAIN
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Semantic Constraints ◽  
Negative Polarity Item ◽  
Ordinary Conversation ◽  
Polarity Sensitive ◽  
Temporal Conjunction

ABSTRACTThe present study investigated Mandarin-speaking children's acquisition of the polarity sensitive item renhe ‘any’ in Mandarin Chinese. Like its English counterpart any, renhe can be used as a negative polarity item (NPI), or as a free choice (FC) item, and both the distribution and interpretation of renhe are governed by the same syntactic and semantic constraints as English any. Using a Truth Value Judgment Task, the present study tested five-year-old Mandarin-speaking children's comprehension of FC renhe in sentences containing the modal word neng ‘can’, and tested children's comprehension of NPI renhe in sentences containing the temporal conjunction zai…zhiqian ‘before’. Most children demonstrated knowledge of the interpretation of both FC renhe and NPI renhe despite a paucity of relevant adult input. Like adults, however, Mandarin-speaking children do not use renhe frequently in ordinary conversation, due to the availability of alternative colloquial expressions (wh-pronouns) that also convey children's intended meanings.

scholarly journals Gapping also needs vP-coordination: An argument from French NPI licensing

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Dagnac
Keyword(s):  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Deletion Analysis ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Negative Polarity Item ◽  
Npi Licensing

AbstractThe analysis of gapping still leaves many questions open. At least three aspects remain controversial: whether it involves unpronounced structure, whether clausal or non-clausal constituents are conjoined, and whether all gapped sentences are must be analyzed uniformly. On the basis of French gapped constructions such as Marie n’est jamais allée à Rome ni Jean à Pékin ‘Mary never went to Rome nor John to Beijing’, the paper argues that gapping is not an homogeneous phenomenon. It first shows that in such gapped clauses involving ni, a strict Negative Polarity Item, a negation low inside the first TP can license the ‘negative coordinator’ ni, a fact that a TP-deletion analysis of gapping or a fragment coordination one can capture. Conversely, it shows that a vP-coordination analysis correctly predicts the properties of ni-gapped clauses. However, such an analysis cannot extend to gapped clauses conjoined by double ni : the second conjunct, this time, must be a full clause or a fragment.

scholarly journals Acquisition, Loss and Innovation in Chuquisaca Quechua—What Happened to Evidential Marking?

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Susan E. Kalt
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Reverse Order ◽  
Related Variety ◽  
Child Language Acquisition ◽  
Statistical Studies ◽  
L1 And L2

Variation among closely related languages may reveal the inner workings of language acquisition, loss and innovation. This study of the existing literature and of selected interviews from recent narrative corpora compares the marking of evidentiality and epistemic modality in Chuquisaca, Bolivian Quechua with its closely related variety in Cuzco, Peru and investigates three hypotheses: that morpho-syntactic attrition proceeds in reverse order of child language acquisition, that convergence characterizes the emergence of grammatical forms different from L1 and L2 in contact situations, and that the Quechua languages are undergoing typological shift toward more isolating morphology. It appears that reportive -sis disappeared first in Bolivia, with eyewitness/validator -min retaining only the validator function. This finding seems to concord with reverse acquisition since it has previously been claimed that epistemic marking is acquired earlier than evidential marking in Cuzco. Meanwhile, Spanish and Quechua in nearby Cochabamba are claimed to mark reportive evidentiality via freestanding verbs of saying. I explore the reportive use of ñiy ‘to say’ in Chuquisaca as compared to Cochabamba and Cuzco and suggest the need for comparative statistical studies of evidential and epistemic marking in Southern Quechua.

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