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Negative properties of quantifiers in English and Swedish

Klingvall, Eva LU orcid and Heinat, Fredrik LU orcid (2021) In Studii de lingvistică 11.
Abstract
In this paper we report the results from two small-scale studies on monotone decreasing (negative) quantifying expressions (QEs) and their negative polarity properties. Some approaches to QEs view polarity item licensing and clause polarity (affirmation/denial) as distinct phenomena. Here, we investigate if this distinction holds for monotone decreasing QEs. In two studies (one on English and one on Swedish), we tested to what extent the abilities of QEs to license negative polarity items (NPIs) and to give rise to clause level denials go hand in hand. Native speakers of English and Swedish rated sentences with quantified subjects (e.g. few, not all) and NPIs (e.g. yet, until) or polarity sensitive material. The results show that both... (More)
In this paper we report the results from two small-scale studies on monotone decreasing (negative) quantifying expressions (QEs) and their negative polarity properties. Some approaches to QEs view polarity item licensing and clause polarity (affirmation/denial) as distinct phenomena. Here, we investigate if this distinction holds for monotone decreasing QEs. In two studies (one on English and one on Swedish), we tested to what extent the abilities of QEs to license negative polarity items (NPIs) and to give rise to clause level denials go hand in hand. Native speakers of English and Swedish rated sentences with quantified subjects (e.g. few, not all) and NPIs (e.g. yet, until) or polarity sensitive material. The results show that both dimensions of negativity are subject to variation within each language but seem to follow each other to a high degree across the two languages, and that QEs with the same logical properties can still be negative to different degrees. (Less)
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author
and
organization
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Negative Polarity Item, clause level denial, monotone ecreasing quantifiers, acceptability judgements, negative strength
in
Studii de lingvistică
volume
11
publisher
University of Oradea Publishing House
ISSN
2248-2547
project
Quantification in Swedish
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9559c5f7-4b76-43cf-be72-0885bb9cf51b
alternative location
https://studiidelingvistica.uoradea.ro/arhiva-en-11-2021.html
date added to LUP
2022-01-04 09:08:16
date last changed
2023-07-18 03:05:06
@article{9559c5f7-4b76-43cf-be72-0885bb9cf51b,
  abstract     = {{In this paper we report the results from two small-scale studies on monotone decreasing (negative) quantifying expressions (QEs) and their negative polarity properties. Some approaches to QEs view polarity item licensing and clause polarity (affirmation/denial) as distinct phenomena. Here, we investigate if this distinction holds for monotone decreasing QEs. In two studies (one on English and one on Swedish), we tested to what extent the abilities of QEs to license negative polarity items (NPIs) and to give rise to clause level denials go  hand in hand. Native  speakers of English and Swedish rated sentences with quantified subjects (e.g. few, not all) and NPIs (e.g. yet, until) or polarity sensitive material. The results show that both dimensions of negativity are subject to variation within each language but seem to follow each other to a high degree across the two languages, and that QEs with the same logical properties can still be negative to different degrees.}},
  author       = {{Klingvall, Eva and Heinat, Fredrik}},
  issn         = {{2248-2547}},
  keywords     = {{Negative Polarity Item; clause level denial; monotone ecreasing quantifiers; acceptability judgements; negative strength}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{University of Oradea Publishing House}},
  series       = {{Studii de lingvistică}},
  title        = {{Negative properties of quantifiers in English and Swedish}},
  url          = {{https://studiidelingvistica.uoradea.ro/arhiva-en-11-2021.html}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}