Minimizers and maximizers as different types of polarity items
Tubau Muntaña, Susagna (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Imprint:	Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020
Abstract:	This chapter examines the properties of minimizers and maximizers (i. e. minimal and maximal extent- or quantity-denoting expressions) in English, Catalan, and Spanish. Special emphasis is put on (i) establishing which type of polarity item these expressions align with, and (ii) identifying connections between them and other elements of the polarity landscape such as negative quantifiers and Negative Concord Items. It is shown that different minimizers and maximizers pattern with Affective Polarity Items, Negative Polarity Items, or Positive Polarity Items in the three studied languages, and that English minimizers behave similarly to negative quantifiers when negation is adjacent to them, while in Catalan and Spanish they behave like Negative Concord Items when headed by the particle ni 'not even'. Vulgar (taboo word) minimizers, which have been argued to carry an incorporated zero numeral in the literature, are claimed to be lexically ambiguous between zero-incorporated structures and Affective Polarity Items.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad FFI2017-8254-P Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017-SGR-634
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Series:	Oxford Handbooks Online
Document:	Capítol de llibre ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Minimizers ; Maximizers ; Affective polarity items ; Negative polarity items ; Positive polarity items ; English ; Catalan ; Spanish
Published in:	The Oxford Handbook of Negation, pag. 407-425 (2020)

DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198830528.013.24

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