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Linglib.Fragments.Japanese.PolarityItems

Japanese polarity items #

The polarity items among the Japanese indefinites, typed by PolarityItem: dare-mo with clausemate negation, a negative-concord item, and the free-choice dare-demo ([KS17]). Their forms are those of the series of Japanese.Indefinites.

References #

NPI #

source
def Japanese.PolarityItems.dareMo :
PolarityItem

dare-mo (with clausemate negation) — n-word: dare-mo ko-nakat-ta 'nobody came'. Requires clausemate sentential negation and is ungrammatical in weak-DE contexts like questions and conditionals, which take dare-ka or bare indeterminates instead ([Shi11]); [Wat04] analyzes it as a negative-concord item.

On the Hamblin-universal analysis of -mo ([Shi06], [KS17]; so also Japanese.Determiners.dare_mo) dare-mo…nai is ∀ scoping over negation; the rival negative-indefinite tradition posits ¬∃ (truth-conditionally equivalent under plain clausemate negation, teased apart by the scope diagnostics of [Shi11]). The affirmative dare-mo 'everyone' is the same wh + mo formation without negation.

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    FCI #

    source
    def Japanese.PolarityItems.dareDemo :
    PolarityItem

    dare-demo — free choice item: dare-demo dekiru 'anyone can do it'. wh + demo (built on the additive/'even' particle mo); free choice and concessive-conditional uses ([KS17]).

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      Licensing #

      source
      theorem Japanese.PolarityItems.dareMo_licensing_characterized (c : PolarityItem.LicensingContext) :
      c.licenser.Licenses dareMo ↔ c.licenser.Carries PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic

      Dare-mo needs clausemate negation, so it is licensed exactly by the contexts carrying anti-morphic strength, which among the named contexts is clausal negation alone.

      source
      theorem Japanese.PolarityItems.dareDemo_licensing_sound (c : PolarityItem.LicensingContext) :
      c ∈ dareDemo.licensingContexts → c.licenser.Admits dareDemo

      Every attested dare-demo context admits it: all four are generic contexts.

      source
      theorem Japanese.PolarityItems.dareMo_dareDemo_licensing_disjoint (c : PolarityItem.LicensingContext) :
      c ∈ dareMo.licensingContexts → c ∉ dareDemo.licensingContexts

      The n-word and the free choice item are attested in disjoint contexts, clausemate negation against the modal, imperative and generic ones.