Negation in There-Sentences

Abstract

The distribution of negation in there-sentences is subject to restrictions that have an intuitive explanation on the feature-placing account. As noted earlier, the postverbal NP in the there-sentence always takes narrow scope with respect to negation. What has been less discussed is the infelicity of not with there-sentences, outside contexts of denial or contrast. These restrictions, which I will elaborate on below, can be stated in the following way, in feature-placing terms: there are no negative features and no negative placers. Instead, in feature-placing, negative meaning is achieved in the following two ways: First, a feature may be said to be placed at a location zero times; and second, previous assertions of feature-placing sentences (or other sentences which carry existence presuppositions) may be denied. It is not possible, on the other hand, to place a [not [feature]] or to place a feature [not [somewhere]].