UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 13 (2001)
On the nature
of French N-words
ERIC MATHIEU
The view defended in this paper is that French N-words are
inherently negative. We argue that French N-words are not simple (i.e. Negative
Polarity Items/pure variables), but negative indefinites: complex XPs consisting of a phonologically null negative operator
and an indefinite expression. French negative statements with N-words are
instances of scope marking chains in which the null operator is a sub-extracted
adjunct. The latter moves to the specifier of a Neg phrase so that negation can take scope over the
relevant predicate while the indefinite expression is stranded.
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