{"title":"A head movement analysis of second position clitics: The case of Russian polar particle li","authors":"Philip Shushurin","doi":"10.1111/synt.12288","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Russian polar particle <jats:italic>li</jats:italic> is usually analyzed as a second position clitic, constrained to appear at the linearly second position in the clause. I suggest that this requirement is a consequence of head movement: <jats:italic>li</jats:italic> is generated in —a polarity projection—merged directly above the associated polar constituent (X). This constituent must head‐move and left‐adjoin to <jats:italic>li</jats:italic>. The complex head (X+li) is largely equivalent to a <jats:italic>wh</jats:italic>‐word: at later stages of the derivation, it is attracted to the left periphery of the clause. <jats:italic>li</jats:italic> can be seen as an analog of a <jats:italic>wh</jats:italic>‐morpheme, which merges with different morphemes to form a <jats:italic>wh</jats:italic>‐word. Treating X+li as a complex head allows us to reduce the second position requirement of <jats:italic>li</jats:italic> to the left edge requirement on the X+li, a requirement often postulated for <jats:italic>wh</jats:italic>‐words. I provide further evidence for the hypothesis by showing the complementarity of <jats:italic>li</jats:italic> and negation.","PeriodicalId":501329,"journal":{"name":"Syntax","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Syntax","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/synt.12288","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Russian polar particle li is usually analyzed as a second position clitic, constrained to appear at the linearly second position in the clause. I suggest that this requirement is a consequence of head movement: li is generated in —a polarity projection—merged directly above the associated polar constituent (X). This constituent must head‐move and left‐adjoin to li. The complex head (X+li) is largely equivalent to a wh‐word: at later stages of the derivation, it is attracted to the left periphery of the clause. li can be seen as an analog of a wh‐morpheme, which merges with different morphemes to form a wh‐word. Treating X+li as a complex head allows us to reduce the second position requirement of li to the left edge requirement on the X+li, a requirement often postulated for wh‐words. I provide further evidence for the hypothesis by showing the complementarity of li and negation.