On the variability of negative scope in Japanese

要旨

This article shows how the Japanese negative expression nai ‘not’ changes its scope depending on whether it is overtly head-raised to T or not. In Japanese, overt Neg-head raising takes place when a negative head acts as a functional predicate, devoid of its lexical (i.e. adjectival) properties in an analogous way to the aspectual verbs have and be in English. When the negative head nai undergoes overt head raising, it takes scope over TP. In some cases, however, the scope of negation becomes narrower due to the absence of overt Neg-head raising. The data provide us with empirical evidence showing that overt head raising – the kind of functional predicate raising observed in English and elsewhere in Japanese – is instantiated at the level of syntax, rather than at PF.

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