A Unified Theory of Polarity Sensitivity

Author:

Alqassas Ahmad

Abstract

This book examines polarity sensitivity—a ubiquitous phenomenon involving expressions such as anybody, nobody, ever, never, and somebody and their counterparts in other languages, with particular focus on Arabic. These expressions belong to different classes such as negative and positive polarity, negative concord, and negative indefinites, which led to examining their syntax and semantics separately. In this book, Ahmad Alqassas pursues a unified approach that relies on examining the interaction between the various types of polarity sensitivity. Treating this interaction is fundamental for scrutinizing their licensing conditions. Alqassas draws on data from Standard Arabic and the major regional dialects represented by Jordanian, Egyptian, Moroccan, and Qatari. The book provides a new perspective on the syntax–semantic interface and develops a unified syntactic analysis for polarity sensitivity. Through the (micro)comparative approach, Alqassas explains the distributional contrasts with a minimal set of universal syntactic operations such as Merge, Move, and Agree, and a fine-grained inventory of negative formal features for polarity items and their licensors. The features are simple invisibles that paint a complex landscape of polarity. The results suggest that syntactic computation of Arabic polarity (externally merged in the left periphery) is subservient to the conceptual–intentional interface. Alqassas argues for last resort insertion of covert negation operators in the CP layer to interpret non-strict NCIs, which is an extra mechanism that serves the semantic interface but adds to the complexity of syntactic computation. Likewise, head NPIs in the left periphery require licensing by operators higher than the tense phrase, adding more constraints on the syntactic licensing.

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Cited by 1 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. On the morphosyntax of hybrid agreement in Jordanian Arabic;Acta Linguistica Academica;2022-08-24

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