Negative concord in multiple negative constituent configurations in Ukrainian: a minimalist approach
Date
2014-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Calgary
Abstract
This study provides a minimalist account of derivation and interpretation of Ukrainian multiple negative constituent configurations, which have a Negative Concord (NC) reading. I argue that negative constituents, i.e., n-words, are Negative Quantifiers rather than Negative Polarity mechanisms, and provide an analysis of the mechanisms for checking their uninterpretable [NEG] features against the interpretable [NEG] features of the negative particle in structures with different word order. This analysis led me to the conclusion that both the operations Move/Move F and the operation Attract can adequately account for the considered Ukrainian data, while fitting into the economical mechanism of the Minimalist Program. However, I relied on the analysis of feature checking via the operations Move/Move F in the course of my further discussion on two approaches to interpretation of multiple negative constituents in NC languages. In this discussion, I used Ukrainian data to argue for the approach proposed by Brown (1999), which relies on the notions of indefinites as variables, feature deletion, copies, and reconstruction, as opposed to the approach proposed by Haegeman & Zanuttini (1991) and Haegeman (1995), which relies on the notion of Negative Absorption. Finally, I discovered that while differing in many respects from some NC languages, like Italian and West Flemish, Ukrainian NC configurations are derived and interpreted in the same way as those in other Slavic languages, namely Russian and Serbian/Croatian.
Description
Keywords
Linguistics, Ukrainian language, Syntax, Minimalist theory (Linguistics), Grammar, Comparative and general--Quantifiers, Distinctive features (Linguistics)
Citation
Filonik, S. (2014). Negative concord in multiple negative constituent configurations in Ukrainian: a minimalist approach. Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 28(Fall), 3-23.