SPEAKER: Anders Holmberg — Newcastle University
TIME: 3:30 PM, Friday 10/14
LOCATION: 32-141
TITLE: On the Syntax of Yes and No in English
Abstract:
The paper discusses systems of answering yes/no- questions in general,
as background to a discussion of two theories articulating the idea
that answers to yes/no-questions are derived by propositional ellipsis
under identity with the proposition of the question. The first theory
is articulated by Kramer & Rawlins (2009,2010), the other is based on
Holmberg (2001, 2007). The paper focuses on a particularly vexing case
of answers to negative questions in English: the ambiguity of yes as
an answer to negative questions with the negation not (called
negative neutralization by Kramer & Rawlins). It is argued that the
ambiguity is due to the structural ambiguity of not, as either
negating the sentence or constituent-negating the predicate. An
argument is also presented that affirmative declaratives have an
affirmative polarity head, a counterpart of the negative polarity head
of negative declaratives.