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Negative Polarity Item Licensing in Hungarian

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Acta Linguistica Hungarica

Abstract

The present paper is concerned with licensing Negative Polarity Items (NPI) in Hungarian, both locally and across clause boundaries. Two types of NPIs are described and their distributional properties are examined. After considering two possible analyses of NPI-licensing, one based on Generalized Binding and one capitalizing on the properties of NPIs as indefinites, I argue that Hungarian NPIs are better captured within the latter framework. Data are drawn from different constructions like wh-questions with rhetorical readings, long distance lincensing of negatives, factive islands, and multiple negation within a single clause. I conclude that in Hungarian the two different NPIs should be distinguished and that they involve different licensing mechanisms, both crucially depending on their indefiniteness.

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  1. Grammaticamodellen, University of Tilburg (KUB), Postbus 90153, 5000, LE Tilburg, The Netherlands e-mail

    Ildikó Tóth

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  1. Ildikó Tóth
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Tóth, I. Negative Polarity Item Licensing in Hungarian. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 46, 119–142 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009681909512

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