A new approach to Negative Concord : Catalan as a case in point

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABPublished online: 25 August 2023In this paper, we revisit the phenomenon of Negative Concord focusing on the Strict vs. Non-Strict divide. With Catalan as a case in point, we show that Negative Concord Items (NCIs) are not negative quantifiers (NQs) or polarity items (PIs) but inherently negative indefinites by virtue of carrying a negative feature [neg] that contributes a negative semantics to the proposition and is subject to a syntax-phonology constraint that forces it to overtly c-command Tense in compliance with Jespersen's NegFirst principle. We argue that to satisfy such constraint, [neg] can disembody from the NCI via overt Move F(eature) to adjoin at a pre-Infl(ection) position and be Spelled-Out homophonous to the negative marker. The Strict vs. Non-Strict contrast follows from whether [neg] always moves independently from the rest of the NCI via Move F (Strict Negative Concord) or predates, whenever possible, on another movement of the NCI that places [neg] in the required pre-Infl position (Non-Strict Negative Concord) thus not having to disembody

Le genre grammatical dans le lexique mental du bilingue roumain-français

Mémoire par articleNous avons exploré la manière dont le genre grammatical est représenté dans le lexique mental bilingue afin de déterminer si celui de la langue maternelle (L1) affecte la production de noms dans la langue seconde (L2). De plus, nous avons exploré la représentation du genre roumain "neutre" pour voir s’il est différent des genres masculin et féminin. Dans cette étude, des bilingues roumain-français ont été testés à l’aide d'une tâche de dénomination d’images en L2 (Expériences 1 et 2) et d’une tâche de traduction de L1 à L2 (Expérience 3). Les participants devaient utiliser un nom seul (condition 1) ou un syntagme nominal (condition 2). Dans toutes les expériences, les réponses étaient plus rapides pour les stimuli au genre congruent dans les deux conditions. Dans toutes les expériences, le "neutre" était différent du masculin et du féminin. Nous proposons que l'information sur le genre grammaticale est disponible au niveau de la représentation lexicale de la langue et que les deux langues des bilingues sont reliés d'une manière qui permet à l'information de ce niveau d’interagir. Nous proposons également que le roumain possède un système de genre tripartite.We explored the way grammatical gender is represented in the bilingual mental lexicon in order to determine whether the grammatical gender from the native language (L1) affects the production of nouns in the second language (L2). Furthermore, we explored the representation of Romanian “neuter” gender to see if it is distinct from masculine and feminine. In this study, Romanian-French bilinguals were tested using a picture-naming task in L2 (Experiments 1 and 2) and a translation task from L1 to L2 (Experiment3). Participants had to use either a bare noun (condition 1) or a noun phrase (condition 2). In all experiments, responses were faster for gender congruent than gender incongruent stimuli in both conditions. In all experiments, “neuter” was found to be distinct from masculine and feminine. We propose that grammatical gender information is available at the level of lexical representation of the language and that the two languages of bilinguals are connected in a way that allows information from that level to interact. We also propose that Romanian has a tripartite gender system

On interpretive constraints and expletives: The case of the Standard French 'ne' element.

This thesis studies the particle ne in Standard French as it appears in the ne...pas/personne/rien and the ne...queXP structures. Based on the assumptions of a syntactic theory as developed in the Principles and Parameters, the thesis makes the following main claims: 1. Ne is an expletive. Its function is to satisfy a structural requirement on both the expression of sentence negation and association with focus. It is semantically defective, but it constrains the interpretation of the associate term it combines with (scope-marker function). 2. Some cross linguistic variations in the expression of sentence negation subsumed under a negative concord account are due to the special status of m as an expletive together with the requirement that each object must receive an independent interpretation at the interface with the Conceptual-Intentional system. 3. In the association with focus structure ne.queXP, the meaning of ne...que which is equivalent to [[only]] is not syntactically derived by combining a negative operator and an operator with the meaning of [[other than]], but built in the lexical element que. The unified account of ne in both the sentence negation and association with focus structures makes various empirical predictions. Ne, as a semantically defective element, cannot be free standing combining instead with a denotating element like pas or que, nor can it rescue a negative phrase inside an island although the ne...pas/personne/rien complex does. Ne, as a (clausal) scope marker, precludes local scope interpretations of its negative associates and the element que. Consequently, constituent negation is expressed by pas/personne/rien alone. The que element which combines with ne is excluded from positions where focus particles typically have local scope. In conclusion, cross linguistic variations cannot be reduced to structural constraints, interpretive requirements must also be taken into consideration

Negative concord with negative quantifiers: A polyadic quantifier approach to Romanian negative concord

Diese Dissertation gehört zu den linguistischen Untersuchungen der negativen Konkordanz und stellt eine Anwendung auf das Rumänische dar. Sie entwickelt eine Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle, die der negativen Semantik eines jeden Ausdrucks Rechnung trägt, der sich an negativer Konkordanz beteiligt. Die semantische Analyse wendet Polyadische Quantoren (Keenan & Westerståhl 1997) an, die in Lexical Resource Semantics (LRS, Richter & Sailer 2004) integriert und dadurch in einer Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG, Pollard & Sag 1994) eingesetzt werden können. Der erste Teil der Dissertation argumentiert, dass rumänische N-Wörter negative Quantoren sind und dass negative Konkordanz sich am besten mit polyadischen Quantoren behandeln lässt. Zunächst, wird gezeigt, dass eine kompositionelle Grammatik mit einfacher Typentheorie und Lambda-Kalkül zu restriktiv zur Verwendung polyadischer Quantoren ist. Dieses Ergebnis schließt die Möglichkeit einer kompositionellen Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle für negative Konkordanz aus. Als Lösung werden polyadische Quantoren in einer Logik höherer Ordnung repräsentiert, die schließlich in LRS, eine Plattform für unterspezifizierte Semantik in HPSG, eingebettet wird. Zusammen mit weiteren constraintbasierten Mechanismen die in HPSG verfügbar sind, ermöglicht uns die flexible Kombinatorik von LRS, eine systematische Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle für die wichtigsten Eigenschaften negativer Konkordanz im Rumänischen zu entwickeln.This dissertation belongs to the linguistic research on negative concord and presents an application to Romanian. It offers a syntax-semantics interface which takes into account the negative semantics of each expression that participates in negative concord. The semantic analysis makes use of Polyadic Quantifiers (Keenan & Westerståhl 1997), which are integrated in Lexical Resource Semantics (LRS, Richter & Sailer 2004) and can thus be employed in a syntax-semantics interface in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG, Pollard & Sag 1994). The first part of the dissertation argues that Romanian n-words are negative quantifiers and that negative concord constructions are best treated as polyadic quantifiers. Next, a compositional grammar with simple type theory and lambda calculus is shown to be too restrictive to accommodate polyadic quantifiers. This result eliminates the possibility to offer a compositional syntax-semantics for negative concord. As a solution, polyadic quantifiers are represented in a higher order language which is embedded in LRS, a platform for underspecified semantics in HPSG. The flexible combinatorics of LRS together with further constraint-based mechanisms available in HPSG enable us to develop a systematic syntax-semantics interface for the core properties of negative concord in Romanian

Compositionality and Complexity in Multiple Negation

This paper considers negative triggers and the interpretation of simple sentences containing more than one occurrence of those items . In the most typical interpretations those sentences have more negative expressions than negations in their semantic representation. It is first shown that this compositionality problem remains in current approaches. A principled algorithm for deriving the representation of sentences with multiple negative quantifiers in a DRT framework is then introduced. The algorithm is under the control of an on-line check-in, keeping the complexity of negation auto-embedding below a threshold of complexity. This mechanism is seen as a competence limitation imposing the ‘abrogation of compositionality’ observed in the so-called negative concord readings . A solution to the compositionality problem is thus proposed, which is based on a control on the processing input motivated by a limitation of the processing mechanism itsel