Abstract
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. This paper aims to provide an explanation of the lexical characterisation and final semantic interpretation associated with isolated argumental n-words in Question-Answer pairs in Negative Concord languages, namely Catalan and Spanish. We argue that there are two competing lexical variants of n-words in these languages: a polarity variant and a negative existential quantifier variant. Accessibility to these two lexical characterizations of n-words is correlated with one of the two possible final interpretations of isolated argumental n-words when used as fragment answers to negative wh-questions. Following a Structured Meaning approach to the semantics of Question-Answer pairs, we present a new analysis of n-words as focus constituents with respect to background wh-questions according to which a final single negation reading can only be inferred from n-words conceived as indefinite polarity items, whereas a Double Negation reading is inferred from negative quantifiers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 41-59 |
| Journal | Lingua |
| Volume | 177 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2016 |
Keywords
- Argumental n-words
- Catalan
- Indefinite negative quantifiers
- Indefinite polarity items
- Question–Answer pairs
- Spanish