Overview

In this book, Doris Penka delivers a cross-linguistic, unified analysis of the semantics and syntax of negative indefinites, as in the expressions nobody, nothing, no (as determiner), never and nowhere and their counterparts in other languages. While it is standard to assume that negative indefinites behave like negative quantifiers, the author argues that these expressions are not inherently negative and are only licensed by a covert negation. In an analysis motivated by three phenomena found in the structure and semantics of negative indefinites in different languages - namely negative concord (in which multiple occurrences of negative constituents express a single negation), split readings (in which negative and indefinite parts take scope independently of each other), and the limited distribution of negative indefinites in Scandinavian languages - Doris Penka considers data from a wide range of languages and reviews the most recent literature on the semantics and syntax of negative indefinites. Her book will interest all linguists working on negation in particular and the syntax-semantics interface more generally.

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9780199567270

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the terrain that P covers in her monograph is an impressively large one and she covers the ground thoroughly, never losing sight of her central thesis. Anyone interested on current thinking on negation and the syntax-semantics interface will find this book interesting and worth reading. Elena Herburger, Language

Author Information

Doris Penka is a postdoctoral researcher in the Zukunftskolleg and the Department of Linguistics at the University of Konstanz. Her research focuses on the syntax-semantics interface, in particular the interaction of negation and quantification. Negative Indefinites is a reworking of her 2007 dissertation.

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