French Studies Publications
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2005
Volume
XII
Journal
Proceedings of Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association
First Page
359
Last Page
367
Abstract
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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