Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T06:27:14.465Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adjunction Sites for Negation in Norwegian: Modals and Negation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Kristin M. Eide
Kristin M. Eide
Affiliation:
Department of Computer and Information Science, NTNU, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: Kristin.Melum.Eide@idi.ntnu.no
Get access

Abstract

This paper investigates a surprising interpretational asymmetry in modal-negation sequences in Norwegian: When the negation word follows the subject, the sentence is ambiguous with respect to the relative scopes of the negation and the modal. When negation precedes the subject, however, the negation unambiguously takes scope over the modal. I argue that this asymmetry can be accounted for by assuming that verb raising has semantic implications; contrary to Chomsky (2001a). Modal-negation sequences in subordinate clauses do not display the same asymmetry, which supports the hypothesis that verb raising causes the observed patterns. Moreover, many speakers reject the sequence negation-subject in subordinate clauses. I propose that, for these speakers, main clauses employ two adjunction sites for negation, whereas subordinate clauses employ only one.

Type
Articles
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , December 2002 , pp. 225 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baker, M. C. 1988. Incorporation. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Bowers, J. 1993. The Syntax of Predication. Linguistic Inquiry 24, 591–656.Google Scholar
Branigan, P. 1996. Verb Second and the A-bar Syntax of subjects. Studia Linguistica 50(1), 50–79.Google Scholar
Brody, M. 1993. θ-Theory and Arguments. Linguistic Inquiry 24(1), 1–23.Google Scholar
Browning, M. 1996. CP Recursion and that-t Effects. Linguistic Inquiry 27, 237–255.Google Scholar
Bybee, J., Perkins, R. & Pagliuca, W. 1994. The Evolution of Grammar – Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. 2000. Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework. In Martin, R., Michaels, D. & Uriagereka, J. (eds), Step by Step – Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honor of Howard Lasnik. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. 2001a. Derivation by Phase. In Kenstowicz, M. (ed.), Ken Hale – A Life in Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. 2001b. Beyond Explanatory Adequacy, MS, MIT.Google Scholar
Cinque, G. 1999. Adverbs and Functional Heads. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, J. 1999. Adverbs as Adjuncts to Non-Universal Functional Categories: Evidence from Portuguese. Paper presented at Conference on Adverbs and Adjunction, University of Tromsø, 04 17–18, 1999.Google Scholar
Den Besten, H. 1977. On the Interaction of Root Transformations and Lexical Deletive Rules. MS, University of Amsterdam. Published in 1981 in Groninger Arbeiten zur Germanischen Linguistik 20, 1–78; republished in W. Abraham (ed.) On the Formal Syntax of the Westgermania. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 47–131; republished 1989 in H. den Besten, Studies in West Germanic Syntax. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 14–100.Google Scholar
Eide, K. M. 2002. Norwegian Modals. Doctoral dissertation, Linguistics Dept. NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Eide, K. M. & Åfarli, T. A. 1999. The Syntactic Disguises of the Predication Operator. Studia Linguistica 53 (2), 155–181. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Frege, G. 1960 [1884]. The Foundations of Arithmetic: a Logico-mathematical Enquiry into the Concept of Number. New York: Harper (translated by John, Austin).Google Scholar
Faarlund, J. T., Lie, S. & Vannebo, K. 1997. Norsk referansegrammatikk. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Givón, T. 1979. On Understanding Grammar. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Haeberli, E. 1999. On the Word Order ‘XP-Subject’ in the Germanic Languages. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 3, 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, C.-H. 2001. Force, Negation and Imperatives. The Linguistic Review 18(4), 289–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmberg, A. 1986. Word Order and Syntactic Features in the Scandinavian Languages and English. University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Holmberg, A. 1993. Two Subject Positions in IP in Mainland Scandinavian, Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 52. Dept. of Scandinavian Linguistics, University of Lund, pp. 29–41.Google Scholar
Hooper, J. B. & Thompson, S. A. 1973. On the Applicability of Root Transformations. Linguistic Inquiry 4, 465–497.Google Scholar
Hornstein, N. 1998. Movement and Chains. Syntax 1, 99–127.Google Scholar
Hornstein, N. 1999. Movement and Control. Linguistic Inquiry 30, 69–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornstein, N. 2000. Control in GB and Minimalism. In Cheng, L. & Sybesma, R. (eds), The First GLOT International State-of -the-Article Book. The Latest in Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Palmer, Frank R. 1995. Negation and the Modals of Possibility and Necessity. In Bybee, J. & Fleischman, S. (eds), Modality in Grammar and Discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Platzack, C. & Rosengren, I. 1998. On the Subject of Imperatives: A Minimalist Account of the Imperative Clause. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 1, 177–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rizzi, L. 1997. The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery. In Haegeman, L. (ed.), Elements of Grammar. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 281–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, I. 1985. Agreement Parameters and the Development of English Modal Auxiliaries. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 3, 21–58.Google Scholar
Roberts, I. 1993. Verbs and Diachronic Syntax. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Roberts, I. & Roussou, A. 2000. The History of the Future. MS.Google Scholar
Thráinsson, H. 1996. On the (Non-) Universality of Functional Categories. In Abraham, W., Epstein, S. D., Thráinsson, H. & Zwart, C. J.-W. (eds), Minimal Ideas – Syntactic Studies in the Minimalist Framework. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Vikner, S. 1995. Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages. Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zanuttini, R. 1996. On the Relevance of Tense for Sentential Negation. In Belletti, & Rizzi, (eds), Parameters and Functional Heads: Essays in Comparative Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 181–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Åfarli, T. A. 1995. Seeds and Functional Projections. In Goenaga, (ed.), De Grammatica Generativa. Universidad del País Vasco, Gasteiz.Google Scholar
Åfarli, T. A. 1997. Dimensions of Phrase Structure: The Representation of Sentence Adverbials. Motskrift 2, INL, NTNU.Google Scholar