Positive polarity items, negation, activated propositions 1 PIERRE LARRIVÉE AbstractThe received view on the distribution of polarity items is that positive polarity items (PPIs) such as something are found in positive contexts; they are antilicensed by negative contexts, which license negative polarity items ( NPIs) such as anything. PPI some can however be found under the scope of clausemate negation. Such a paradoxical use has been analyzed by Szabolcsi (2004) as a special case of licensing: two negative polarity licensors are required by the internal constitution of some. Some is however shown to occur under the scope of a single clause-mate negative. Single and dual negative environments are argued to depend on the same determinism. This determinism is shown to be activated propositions in the sense of Dryer (1996). Propositions accessible to the hearer characterize the contexts where some and other PPIs come under the scope of clause-mate negation in English and other languages, as demonstrated by the transferable diagnostics proposed. The reason for this correlation is that activation brings the whole proposition into the focus of negation, which does not interact directly with the PPI to produce infelicitous interpretations. A simple and general pragmatic determinism accounts for the marked character of the sequences, that allows a clear distinction to be maintained between licensed NPIs and anti-licensed PPIs. Brought to you by | Penn State -The Pennsylvania State University Authenticated Download Date | 5/26/15 2:58 PM Positive polarity items, negation, activated propositions 871 Szabolcsi (2004)The most common crosslinguistic way to produce the equivalent of an n-word such as nothing is to use an indefinite like something with a sentential negation (Haspelmath 1997; Reesink 2002: 250; van der Auwera et al. 2006: 314 -318). The English way is to propose different formal paradigms. Whereas any is routinely used with negation, this is assumed not to be the case of some.(1) John didn't say anything.(2) *John didn't say something. Some can however be found with negation in certain environments. This is the issue to which Szabolcsi (2004) devotes her attention. These environments include some scoping over negation, as in the following elicitation:(3) John didn't mention something (and that was the rising interest rates).Example (3) suggests that there was something that wasn't mentioned by John. That scope behavior is related by Giannakidou (2008) to the semantic specificity of emphasized some, which is not the case that is the primary object of our consideration here. 2 Our attention is devoted to the cases where some does scope under negation. This obtains when negation is non-clause mate:(4) I don't think that John saw someone.Clause-mate negation focusing on an intervening item is also involved:(5) John didn't offend someone because he was malicious ( but because he was stupid). (not > because > some) (Szabolcsi 2004: 420, example (49)) (6) John didn't say something at every party. (not > every > some) (...
This article focuses on the empirical domain of the solidarity uses of certain insults in different varieties of French (standard, Quebec, Burgundy) from diachronic and synchronie points of view. "Solidarity uses" refers to the usage of axiological terms as terms of endearment to mark social proximity between subjects. This value is signalled by morpho- syntactic, prosodie and mimeo-gestural features indicating the speakers disposition towards the addressee. These psychological and social parameters conspire to attenuate the axiological term's argumentative program, which however can never be entirely evacuated. This argumentative program is nevertheless subordinated to pragmatics, which remains necessary in order to evaluate the extent to which the conventional lexical meaning is maintained in these uses. The attenuation of conventional meaning under solidarity uses shows the relevance of relational and attitudinal notions for the negotiation of meaning. It further establishes that at least in some cases, the analysis of linguistic interpretation require a multidisciplinary approach, most specifically where the relation between Semantics and Pragmatics is concemed.
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