Abstract
We observe that the facts pertaining to the acceptability of negative polarity items (henceforth, NPIs) in interrogative environments complex than previously noted. Since Klima [Klima, E. (1964). In J. Fodor & J. Katz (Eds.), The structure of language. Prentice-Hall], it has been typically assumed that NPIs are grammatical in both matrix and embedded questions, however, on closer scrutiny it turns out that there are differences between root and embedded environments, and between question nucleus and wh-restrictor. While NPIs are always licensed in the nucleus of root questions, their acceptability in the restrictor of wh-phrases and in the nucleus of any embedded question depends on the logical properties of the linguistic environment: its strength in terms of exhaustivity [Groenendijk, J., & Stokhof, M. (1984). Studies on the semantics of questions and the pragmatic answers. Amserdam (NL), Post-Doctoral Dissertation. Heim, I. (1994). In R. Buchalla & A. Mittwoch (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th annual IATL conference and of the 1993 IATL workshop on discourse (pp. 128–144). Akademon, Jerusalem. Beck, S., & 16 Rullmann, H. (1999). Natural Language Semantics, 7, 249–298. Sharvit, Y (2002). Natural Language Semantics, 10, 97–123] and its monotonicity properties (in the sense of von Fintel [von Fintel, K. (1999). Journal of 19 Semantics, 16, 97-148]).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Abels, K. (2003). Who gives a damn about minimizers in questions? Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory, 13.
Baker C.L. (1970). Double negatives. Linguistic Inquiry 1: 169–189
Beck S., Rullmann H. (1999). A flexible approach to exhaustivity in questions. Natural Language Semantics 7: 249–298
Cable, S. (2002). Some remarks on two theories of negative polarity. Ms. MIT (http://web.mit.edu/ scable/www/work/papers/semantics-squib.pdf).
Dayal, V. (1996). Locality in WH quantification: Questions and relative clauses in hindi. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Fauconnier G. (1975). Polarity and the scale principle. Chicago Linguistics Society 11: 188–199
Fauconnier G. (1978). Implication reversal in a natural language. In: Guenthner F., Schmidt S.J. (eds) Formal semantics and pragmatics for natural languages. Dordrecht, Reidel, pp. 289–302
von Fintel K. (1999). NPI licensing, Strawson entailment, and context dependencies. Journal of Semantics 16: 97–148
Giannakidou, A. (1997). The landscape of polarity items. PhD Dissertation, Groningen.
Giannakidou, A. (2004). Licensing and sensitivity in polarity items: From downward entailment to nonveridicality. In M. Andronis, A. Pycha, & K. Yoshimura (Eds), CLS 38: Papers from the 38th annual meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Parasession on Polarity and Negation.
Giannakidou A. (2007). The landscape of Even. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 25: 39–81
Groenendijk J., Stokhof M. (1982). Semantic analysis of WH-complements. Linguistics and Philosophy 5: 175–233
Groenendijk, J. & Stokhof, M. (1984). Studies on the semantics of questions and the pragmatic of answers. Amsterdam (NL), Post-Doctoral Dissertation.
Groenendijk, J., & Stokhof, M. (1989). Type-shifting rules and the semantics of interrogatives. In G. Chierchia, B. Partee, & R. Turner (Eds.), Properties, Types and Meanings (Vol. 2, Semantic Issues, pp. 21–68). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Guerzoni, E. (2001). Even-NPIs in questions. In The Proceedings of NELS 32 (pp. 153–170). Amherst, MA: GLSA Publishers.
Guerzoni, E. (2003). Why even ask? On the pragmatics of questions and the semantics of answers. PhD Dissertation, MIT.
Guerzoni E. (2004). Even-NPIs in yes/no Questions. Natural Language Semantics 12: 319–343
Hamblin C.L. (1971). Questions in Montague English. Foundations of Language 10: 41–53
Heim, I. (1984). A note on negative polarity and downward entailingness. In The Proceedings of NELS 14 (pp. 98–107). Amherst, MA: GLSA Publishers.
Heim, I. (1994). Interrogative complements of Know. In R. Buchalla, & A. Mittwoch (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th annual IATL conference and of the 1993 IATL workshop on discourse (pp. 128–144). Jerusalem: Akademon.
Higginbotham, J. (1991). Either/or. Proceedings of NELS 21.
Higginbotham, J. (1993). Interrogatives. In K. Hale, & S. J. Keyser (Eds.), The view from Building 20: Essays in linguistics in honor of Sylvain Bromberger (pp. 195–227). MIT Press.
Kadmon N., Landman F. (1993). Any Linguistics and Philosophy 16: 353–422
Karttunen L. (1977). Syntax and semantics of questions. Linguistics and Philosophy 1: 3–44
Klima, E. (1964). Negation in English. In J. Fodor, & J. Katz (Eds.), The structure of language. Prentice-Hall.
Krifka M. (1995). The semantics and pragmatics of polarity items. Linguistic Analysis 25(3–4): 209–257
Ladusaw, W. (1979). Polarity sensitivity as inherent scope relations. PhD Dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Ladusaw W. (1980). On the notion “Affective” in the analysis of negative polarity items. Journal of Linguistic Research 1: 1–16
Lahiri, U. (1991). Embedded interrogatives and predicates that embed them. PhD Dissertation, MIT. Distributed by MITWPL.
Lahiri U. (1998). Focus and negative polarity in hindi. Natural Language Semantics 6: 57–123
Lahiri, U. (2002). Questions and answers in embedded contexts. Oxford University Press.
Linebarger, M. (1980). The grammar of negative polarity. PhD Dissertation, MIT.
Linebarger M. (1987). Negative polarity and grammatical representation. Linguistics and Philosophy 10: 325–387
Munsat S. (1986). Wh-complementizers. Linguistics and Philosophy 9: 191–217
Progovac L. (1993). Negative polarity: Entailment and binding. Linguistics and Philosophy 16: 149–180
van Rooy R. (2003). Negative polarity items in questions: Strength as relevance. Journal of Semantics 20: 239–274
Rullmann, H., & Beck, S. (1998). Presupposition projection and the interpretation of Whichquestions. In D. Strolovitch, & A. Lawson (Eds.), Proceedings of SALT 8 (pp. 215–232). Cornell University.
Sharvit Y. (2002). Embedded questions and De Dicto readings. Natural Language Semantics 10: 97–123
Sharvit, Y., & Guerzoni, E. (2003). Reconstruction and its problems. In P. Dekker, & R. van Rooy (Eds.), Proceedings of the 14th Amsterdam colloquium (pp. 205–210). University of Amsterdam. von Stechow, A. (1996). Against LF pied-piping. Natural Language Semantics, 4, 57–110.
Strawson P.F. (1952). Introduction to logical theory. London, Methuen
Zwarts F. (1995). Nonveridical contexts. Linguistic Analysis 25: 286–312
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
For very valuable comments, we thank Klaus Abels, Chris Barker, David Beaver, Sigrid Beck, Daniel Buring, Gennaro Chierchia, Veneeta Dayal, Kai von Fintel, Jon Gajewski, Susan Glasser, Jane Grimshaw, Martin Hackl, Irene Heim, Larry Horn, Lance Nathan, Barbara Partee, Orin Percus, Ben Russell, Uli Sauerland, Barry Schein, Philippe Schlenker, Roger Schwarzschild, Mandy Simons, Tim Stowell, and two anonymous L&P reviewers. All remaining errors are ours.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guerzoni, E., Sharvit, Y. A question of strength: on NPIs in interrogative clauses. Linguist and Philos 30, 361–391 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-007-9014-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-007-9014-x