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Negatives in Comparatives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Donna Jo Napoli  and
Marina Nespor
Donna Jo Napoli
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Marina Nespor
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
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Abstract

The negative element non appears in Italian comparatives when the speaker presupposes that his statement contradicts someone else's or his own previously held belief. Though this non appears in the comparative clause in the surface, it originates in a higher abstract S in embedded position. By proposing an abstract S in embedded position, we can account in a unified way for many sets of facts which would go unrelated in either a presupposition-dependent syntax model or an interpretive approach. This use of non is thus an example of a presuppositional fact which is accounted for by a syntactic analysis.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 811 - 838
Copyright
Copyright © 1976 by Linguistic Society of America

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