Abstract
This paper deals with the two sets of polarity sensitive items in Russian: ni- and -nibud’ pronouns. Non-specific indefinite -nibud’ pronouns (NSIs) are possible only in propositions that do not ensure truth, i.e. non-veridical contexts. Although clause-mate negation creates such a context, NSIs are incompatible with it and are substituted by negative ni- pronouns that are licensed only by negative concord. The incompatibility of NSIs with negation can be resolved in subjunctive sentences and embedded purpose čtoby-clauses, however, the licensing conditions in these cases are not defined. In this paper I introduce another context which licenses both types of pronouns, namely, negated process nominalizations. I determine the licensing conditions for the two types of pronouns in nominalization, and test previous approaches against the new data. In particular, I argue that -nibud’ pronouns are licensed in the scope of the nonveridical operator that is introduced in the main clause.
Highlights
In this paper I introduce another context which licenses both types of pronouns, namely, negated process nominalizations
Russian process nominalizations are nominals derived with the productive suffixes -nij-/-tij- [Shvedova, 1980] that have the argument structure associated with the vP functional layer [Alexiadou, 2001], with AspP being the highest available projection in the structure [Pazel’skaya, Tatevosov, 2008]. [Pazel’skaya, 2006] argues that negation cannot merge in process nominalizations because presenting the absence of a process as another process is semantically obscure
The corpus study revealed that negated process nominals possess the same structural properties as affirmative event nominalizations: in particular, they obligatorily take internal arguments (6), and may take aspectual modifiers (7)
Summary
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation; Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Moscow, 117485, Russian Federation. This paper deals with the two sets of polarity sensitive items in Russian: ni- and -nibud’ pronouns. Non-specific indefinite -nibud’ pronouns (NSIs) are possible only in propositions that do not ensure truth, i.e. non-veridical contexts. Clause-mate negation creates such a context, NSIs are incompatible with it and are substituted by negative ni- pronouns that are licensed only by negative concord. The incompatibility of NSIs with negation can be resolved in subjunctive sentences and embedded purpose čtoby-clauses, the licensing conditions in these cases are not defined. In this paper I introduce another context which licenses both types of pronouns, namely, negated process nominalizations. I argue that -nibud’ pronouns are licensed in the scope of the nonveridical operator that is introduced in the main clause.
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