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Mirativity In English Response Particles: An Analysis From The Syntax/Semantics Interface, Randi Martinez Dec 2023

Mirativity In English Response Particles: An Analysis From The Syntax/Semantics Interface, Randi Martinez

Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity

Responses to questions can provide significant insight about linguistic structure and meaning. In this paper, I propose an analysis of the structure of assertions and various responses to assertions, bringing together semantic and syntactic considerations. The analysis incorporates a Speech Act Phrase (SAP, Speas & Tenny 2003), which is taken to encode illocutionary force. I present novel data on a polar response particle (PRP) form that has not yet been considered in the literature, namely, the English yeah-huh/nuh-uh responses. I show that these are polarity-based responses that signal disagreement and mirativity. I discuss the syntactic and discourse-related restrictions for yeah-huh/nuh-uh …

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Responding To Questions And Assertions: Embedded Polar Response Particles, Ellipsis, And Contrast, Jeremy Pasquereau Jul 2018

Responding To Questions And Assertions: Embedded Polar Response Particles, Ellipsis, And Contrast, Jeremy Pasquereau

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies the distribution of Polar Response Particles (i.e. yes/no particles) in embedded contexts with a focus on European French.

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Disjunction In Free Choice And Polarity In Malagasy, Ileana Paul Jan 2005

Disjunction In Free Choice And Polarity In Malagasy, Ileana Paul

French Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

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Or, Wh- And Not: Free Choice And Polarity In Malagasy, Ileana Paul Jan 2005

Or, Wh- And Not: Free Choice And Polarity In Malagasy, Ileana Paul

French Studies Publications

This paper explores the distribution of Free Choice Items (FCI) and Negative Polarity Items (NPI) in Malagasy. Both FCIs and NPIs in Malagasy are syntactically complex: they are expressed by disjunctions of wh-words. It is shown that this morphosyntactic structure directly reflects their semantics. In other words, FCIs and NPIs are semantically as well as syntactically disjunctive. Moreover, the Malagasy data support analyses of disjunction as a polarity sensitive element.

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Disjunction In Free Choice And Polarity In Malagasy, Ileana Paul Dec 2004