This thesis undertakes to refine our understanding of the syntactic properties of sentential negation. The proposed analyses operate at the juncture of recent innovations to Case, Agreement, and X-bar theories, within a Government and Binding framework. Case is checked in a Specifier/Head configuration whenever possible, and agreement is analyzed as the reflex of a Case-checking operation at S-structure. The proposal that the inventory of functional categories available in Universal Grammar includes a Negation Phrase (NegP) is adopted as a point of departure. / In the context of this investigation, certain syntactic properties are attributed to the head and specifier of NegP. It is proposed that the specifier of NegP provides an A-position in which NPs may be Case-checked. S-structure Case-checking is reflected in agreement marking on the negative head. Evidence for LF Case-checking in this position is derived from the Case-licensing of direct objects in negated clauses in Colloquial Welsh and Russian. Definiteness effects are analyzed as due to constraints on an additional Case-licensing option required if negation blocks Case assignment under government. Variations in agreement patterns in affirmative and negative relative clauses in Literary and Colloquial Welsh are attributed to the barrier status of the head of NegP.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.41360 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | De Freitas, Leslie J. (Leslie Jill) |
| Contributors | Baker, Mark (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Linguistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001399777, proquestno: NN94606, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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