Complementizers and negative polarity in German hypothetical comparatives
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Julia Bacskai-Atkari
Abstract
The article examines the synchronic and diachronic relation between German hypothetical comparatives and ordinary comparatives. While the presence of an overt equative complementizer is not universally obligatory, it is so in hypothetical comparatives, whereas a conditional complementizer may be absent. This is because the equative complementizer in hypothetical comparatives functions as the licenser of the conditional clause in monoclausal hypothetical comparatives, and in this sense, it is a polarity marker. This difference regarding function accounts for the fact that German allows als in hypothetical comparatives but not in equatives: while the combinations als ob and als wenn historically derive from biclausal constructions, the reanalysis into monoclausal constructions allowed the fossilization of a complementizer without reference to changes affecting ordinary equatives.
Abstract
The article examines the synchronic and diachronic relation between German hypothetical comparatives and ordinary comparatives. While the presence of an overt equative complementizer is not universally obligatory, it is so in hypothetical comparatives, whereas a conditional complementizer may be absent. This is because the equative complementizer in hypothetical comparatives functions as the licenser of the conditional clause in monoclausal hypothetical comparatives, and in this sense, it is a polarity marker. This difference regarding function accounts for the fact that German allows als in hypothetical comparatives but not in equatives: while the combinations als ob and als wenn historically derive from biclausal constructions, the reanalysis into monoclausal constructions allowed the fossilization of a complementizer without reference to changes affecting ordinary equatives.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The grammatical realization of polarity contrast 1
- From polarity focus to salient polarity 9
- Verum focus, sentence mood, and contrast 55
- Complementizers and negative polarity in German hypothetical comparatives 89
- Veridicality and sets of alternative worlds 109
- Biased declarative questions in Swedish and German 129
- On two types of polar interrogatives in Hungarian and their interaction with inside and outside negation 173
- Two kinds of VERUM distinguished by aspect choice in Russian 203
- Polarity focus and non-canonical syntax in Italian, French and Spanish 227
- In search for polarity contrast marking in Italian 255
- Index 289
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The grammatical realization of polarity contrast 1
- From polarity focus to salient polarity 9
- Verum focus, sentence mood, and contrast 55
- Complementizers and negative polarity in German hypothetical comparatives 89
- Veridicality and sets of alternative worlds 109
- Biased declarative questions in Swedish and German 129
- On two types of polar interrogatives in Hungarian and their interaction with inside and outside negation 173
- Two kinds of VERUM distinguished by aspect choice in Russian 203
- Polarity focus and non-canonical syntax in Italian, French and Spanish 227
- In search for polarity contrast marking in Italian 255
- Index 289
