next up previous
Next: Annual meeting of the Up: SALA 18 in Delhi Previous: Event Structure: Internal and

Monotonicity constraints on Negative Polarity in Hindi

Shravan Vasishth, Ohio State University

This study addresses the issue of admissible licensing constraints on Hindi NPIs in terms of downward monotonicity and classifies NPIs into three distinct types, based on whether the NPI in question can be suffixed by the particles `bhii' (even, also) or `tak' (even, until/by). Further, three distinct licensing environments, constituting increasingly stronger negative contexts, are identified, and extensive empirical support is provided to claim, inter alia, that NPIs marked by `bhii' are allowed in the weakest possible negative context, while those marked by `tak' appear only in a relatively stronger negative context (anti-additive contexts). (To appear in the proceedings of SALA 18)



Rajesh Bhatt
Mon Mar 30 11:24:59 EST 1998