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Chapter 27 - Negative and Positive Polarity Items

from Part IV - Semantics and Pragmatics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2020

By
Doris Penka
Edited by
Michael T. Putnam  and
B. Richard Page
Michael T. Putnam
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
B. Richard Page
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary

As many, if not all, other languages, the Germanic languages have expressions that are sensitive to the polarity of the clause in which they occur. Negative polarity items (NPIs) can only occur in clauses that are in some sense negative, whereas positive polarity items (PPIs) can only occur in clauses that are affirmative. This chapter reviews some lines of inquiry on polarity sensitive items that have been developed within the framework of generative grammar. It is shown that syntax, semantics, and pragmatics closely interact in the constraints that govern the distribution of polarity items. Questions addressed include the following: What are the lexical properties of polarity sensitive items? How can the environments in which NPIs can occur and PPIs cannot occur be characterized as natural class? How is the licensing condition to be formulated? Why are polarity items sensitive to the polarity of the context in which they occur?

Keywords

polarity sensitivitynegative polarity itempositive polarity itemnegationdownward entailment
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics , pp. 639 - 660
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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