Integrating syntactic theory and variationist analysis : The structure of negative indefinites in regional dialects of British English

This paper integrates syntactic theory and variationist analysis in an investigation of the variation between English 'not'-negation ('I don’t have any money'), 'no'-negation ('I have no money') and negative concord ('I don’t have no money'). Using corpora of three varieties of UK English spoken in Glasgow, Tyneside and Salford respectively, I test two theoretical accounts of the variation. Account 1 applies Zeijlstra’s (2004) agreement-based theory of negative concord to all three variants, such that n-words (e.g. 'nobody') which feature in 'no'-negation and negative concord are not inherently negative but agree with a negative operator in a higher NegP. Under Account 2, 'no'-negation is instead derived via negative-marking within the DP followed by movement to the higher NegP for sentential scope (Kayne 1998; Svenonius 2002; Zeijlstra 2011). These accounts, together with observations about the raising properties of functional versus lexical verbs, lead to the formulation of different hypotheses about the distribution of variants in speech according to verb type, verb phrase complexity, and the discourse status of the propositions expressed. Results of distributional analysis and mixed-effects modelling support Account 2 of the variation over Account 1, suggesting structural identity between 'not'-negation and negative concord (in contrast to 'no'-negation). This supports Tubau’s (2016) proposal that English negative indefinites have two distinct structures: one in which negation is marked syntactically in the DP and one in which they agree with a syntactically-higher NegP

Evaluation of benzene exposure in adults and urinary s-phenylmercapturic acid in children living in Adelaide, South Australia

Benzene Exposure was evaluated in adults and children living in Adelaide, South Australia by measuring benzene and urinary s-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA). To determine of benzene exposure in each subject the personal passive samplers was used and samples were analyzed by gas chromatography system equipped to flame ionization detector. The level of SPMA was determined by competitive enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in children. The mean concentration of benzene in Summer and Winter were 1.62±1.43 and 1.36±0.87 ppb respectively. There was a significant difference between exposure to benzene for subjects with less and more than 6 hours activity over days of week (p<0.05). The mean urinary concentrations levels of SPMA adjusted to creatinene for children that living less and more than 200 meters distance from main road were 1.56 and 4.67 μmol/mol creatinene, respectively and the significant difference was seen in two groups (p<0.005). Data shows, that SPMA can be utilized as a biomarker for exposure to benzene in children. Exposure to benzene is more for children that living near to main road compare to other children. Adults have more activity in out side of home has more exposure to benzene than other people