John Benjamins Publishing Company
Quantification under negative scope in Singapore English
Abstract
Earlier studies on the grammatical system of Singapore English have attributed little attention to the interactions between negation and quantification, and even less researched in previous studies is the application of the Aristotelian Square of Oppositions to variational data from international dialects of English. The present study takes up the challenge of explaining three phenomena relating to negation and quantification in Singapore English; (i) the somewhat more frequent use of affirmative universal quantifiers co-occurring with predicate negation; (ii) the presence of conjunctive phrasal coordinators (and) rather than disjunctive or in the scope of negation, and (iii) the use of the additive focus adverb (also) co-occurring with clause-mate negation, rather than the negatively-polarized clause-final (either). The present study investigates the possible existence of interrelations existing between each feature.
Abstract
Earlier studies on the grammatical system of Singapore English have attributed little attention to the interactions between negation and quantification, and even less researched in previous studies is the application of the Aristotelian Square of Oppositions to variational data from international dialects of English. The present study takes up the challenge of explaining three phenomena relating to negation and quantification in Singapore English; (i) the somewhat more frequent use of affirmative universal quantifiers co-occurring with predicate negation; (ii) the presence of conjunctive phrasal coordinators (and) rather than disjunctive or in the scope of negation, and (iii) the use of the additive focus adverb (also) co-occurring with clause-mate negation, rather than the negatively-polarized clause-final (either). The present study investigates the possible existence of interrelations existing between each feature.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Towards a diachronic reconstruction of Colloquial Singapore English 11
- NEG-raising and long-distance licensing of negative polarity items 33
- A positive polarity focus particle under negation 63
- What is Strict Negative Concord? 81
- Englishes, English creoles and their negative indefinites 115
- Negative raising in Singapore English 151
- Quantification under negative scope in Singapore English 171
- Subject index 207
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Towards a diachronic reconstruction of Colloquial Singapore English 11
- NEG-raising and long-distance licensing of negative polarity items 33
- A positive polarity focus particle under negation 63
- What is Strict Negative Concord? 81
- Englishes, English creoles and their negative indefinites 115
- Negative raising in Singapore English 151
- Quantification under negative scope in Singapore English 171
- Subject index 207
