Responding to Negative Utterances: An Ellipsis Account

Abstract

This paper investigates the syntax of polarity particles ‘yes’ and ‘no’ as responses to negative utterances such as negative questions and assertions. It has been noted by Krifka (2013), among others, that negative utterances can be responded to in four different ways, such that ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are both part of positive or negative responses. We argue that ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in negative responses to negative utterances are derived from feature checking/valuation between the polarity particle and the TP-internal Pol head, followed by TP ellipsis. By contrast, ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in positive responses to negative utterances are immediately followed by the empty TP, which recruits its antecedent semantically from the propositions denoted by the preceding negative question or assertion. It is shown that the line of our analysis musters empirical support from Goodhue and Wagner’s (2018) recent analysis of the interaction between polarity particles and intonation, in that unlike the unmarked cases that employ syntactic feature checking/valuation, the marked cases of polarity particles that rely on semantic binding and composition are bound to bear the peculiar intonation of contradiction contour.