NPI in Tamil and Telugu

Lissim 9
3 June 2015

Rahul Balusu
Gurujegan Murugesan
Rajamathangi Shanmugam

Two types of NPI

wh-um

wh-aavatu

yaar-um

yaar-aavatu

ethuv-um eth-aavatu

who
which

eppoth-um eppoth-aavatu

when

ethu-um

why

ethu-aavatu

engei-um engei-aavatu

where

Why they are NPI ?

Initial observation:
(1)

*yaar-um

vitt-ukku

va-nt-aar-kal

who-um

house -DAT

come-PST-3-PL

Intended: Someone came home

(2)

*yaar-aavatu

vitt-ukku

va-nt-aar-kal

who-aavatu

house -DAT

come-PST-3-PL

Intended: Someone came home

Licensors for wh-um and wh-aavatu

With Negation:
(3)

yaar-um

vitt-ukku

pokalai

who-um

house- DAT

go(NEG)

Nobody went home

(4)

*yaar-aavatu

vitt-ukku

pokalai

who-um

house- DAT

go( NEG)

Nobody went home

Licensors for wh-um and wh-aavatu

With before clause:
(5)

*yaar-um

var-athu-kku

munnadi vaday-ai saapitudu

who-um

come- NMZ-DAT before

vada- ACC eat

Before anyone comes, eat the vada

(6)

yaar-aavatu

var-athu-kku

munnadi vaday-ai saapitudu

who-aavatu

come- NMZ-DAT before

Before anyone comes, eat the vada

vada- ACC eat

Licensors for wh-um and wh-aavatu

With restriction of Universals:
(7)

*enta book-um padicha

ella

pasangal-um paas aaitnga

any

all

boys-um

book-um read

pass become

Every boy who read any book, passed

(8) enta
any

book-aavatu padicha ella

pasangal-um paas aaitnga

book-aavatu read

boys-um

all

Every boy who read any book, passed

pass become

Licensors for wh-um and wh-aavatu

With less than three:
(9)

*mu:nnu

peruk-um koranja peru

three

people

less

yaarai-um paar-t-aanga

people who-um

See-PST-3PL

Less than three people saw anyone

(10) mu:nnu peruk-um koranja peru
three

people

less

yaarai-aavatu paar-t-aanga

people who-aavatu

Less than three people saw anyone

See-PST-3PL

Licensors for wh-um and wh-aavatu

With conditionals:
(11) *ni:
you

yaar-ai-um paarti-naa

en-kitte

sollu

wh-ACC-UM see-IF

1SG-LOC

tell

If you see anybody, tell me

(12) ni:
you

yaar-ai-aavatu paarti-naa

en-kitte

sollu

wh-ACC-aavatu

1SG-LOC

tell

see-IF

If you see anybody, tell me

The paradigm
Context

-um

-aavatu

neg

GOOD

BAD

before

BAD

GOOD

restriction of Universal BAD

GOOD

Less than three

BAD

GOOD

Conditionals

BAD

GOOD

The paradigm

Generalization 1: wh-um is a super strong NPI

Generalization 2: wh-aavatu is a weak NPI, which
does not occur in anti-morphic context

Locality
Clause-mate Negation
(13)

mani yaar-ai-um

paarkalai-nnu

mani wh-ACC-um see(NEG)-COMP

banu

so-nn-al

banu

say-PST-3SF

banu

so-nn-al

Banu said Mani didnt see anybody

(14)

*mani yaar-ai-aavatu paarkalai-nnu

mani

wh-ACC-aavatu

see(NEG)-COMP banu

Banu said Mani didnt see anybody

say-PST-3SF

Locality
Matrix Negation
(15)

Mani yaar-ai-um

paar-t-aan-nu

banu

Mani wh-ACC-um see-PST-3SGM-COMP banu

sollalai
say(NEG)

Banu did not say that Mani saw anybody

(16)

mani yaar-ai-aavatu

paar-t-aan-nu

mani wh-ACC-aavatu

see-PST-3SGM-COMP banu

Banu did not say that Mani saw anybody

banu

sollalai
say(NEG)

The locality paradigm

With non-Neg raising verbs
Context

-um

-aavatu

Clause-mate Negation

GOOD

BAD

Matrix Negation

GOOD

GOOD

Clause-mate Negation

GOOD

BAD

Matrix Negation

BAD

GOOD

Tamil

Telugu

The locality paradigm

Generalization 3: wh-um is a non strict NPI in
Tamil and a strict NPI in Telugu
Generalization 4: wh-aavatu is also non strict NPI

Locality
With Neg raising verbs
(17)

mani yaar-ai-um

paar-t-aan-nu

banu

ninaikalai

mani wh-ACC-um see-PST-3SGM-COMP banu

think(NEG)

Banu did not think that Mani saw anybody

Banu thought that Mani did not see anybody
(18)

mani yaar-ai-aavatu

paar-t-aan-nu

banu

ninaikalai

mani wh-ACC-aavatu

see-PST-3SGM-COMP banu

think(NEG)

Banu did not think that Mani saw anybody

Banu thought that Mani did not see anybody

Locality
With Neg raising verbs:
Tamil allows neg raising reading when um-NPI is
in subject or object position of the embedded
clause
Telugu allows neg raising reading when um-NPI is
only in the subject position but not in the object
position

Intermediate conclusion
Generalization 5 :wh-um is a non strict strong
NPI
Generalization 6: wh-aavatu is a non strict weak
NPI

wh-um, is it an unary Neg ?

Island effect: The complex NP constraint
(19)

[yaarum

enn-ai

adikka maatang-gra

wh-um

1SG-ACC beat

wont

nambikai]

enakku

iru-nt-atu

belief

1SG-DAT be-PST-3N

I had the belief that anyone wont beat me

(20)

[*yaarum

enn-ai

adipanga-gra

wh-um

1SG-ACC beat-CMPZ

nambikai]

enakku

belief

1SG-DAT NEG

I dont have the belief that anyone will beat me

illai

wh-um, is it an unary Neg ?

Degree modifier:
(21)

Mani kitta thatta

yaar-ai-um

paarkalai

Mani nearly

wh-ACC-um

See (NEG)

Mani saw almost nobody

(21)

*Mani

kitta thatta

yaar-ai-oo

Mani

nearly

wh-ACC-DISJ See (NEG)

Mani saw almost somebody

paarkalai

wh-um, is it an unary Neg ?

The licensing condition
Island effect
Degree modification
Generalization 7: It suggests that it is an Unary
Neg NPI

wh-aavatu ?
The distribution of wh-aavatu
neg

BAD

before

GOOD

restriction of Universal

GOOD

Less than three

GOOD

Conditionals

GOOD

Semantic distribution of wh-aavatu

DE AA

AM

The Puzzle
The Bagels problem

The Puzzle
The Bagels problem

To sound it more Dravidian!

We shall call the Bagels The vadai problem

To sound it more Dravidian!

We shall call the Bagels The vadai problem

Some facts about wh-aavatu

(22)

*Mani

yaar-ai-aavatu paarkalai

Mani

wh-ACC-aavatu

see(NEG)

Mani didnt see anybody

(23)

ni:

yaar-ai-aavatu paarkalai-naa en-kitte

sollu

2SG

wh-ACC-aavatu

tell

see(NEG)-IF

If you dont see anybody ,tell me

1SG-LOC

Some facts about wh-aavatu

*Neg > wh-aavatu
NPI licensor > NEG > wh-aavatu

Some facts about wh-aavatu

*Neg > wh-aavatu
NPI licensor > NEG > wh-aavatu

Baker/Szabolcsi:
*Neg > PPI
NPI licensor > NEG > PPI

Semantic distribution of wh-aavatu

DE AA

AM
PPI

Intermediate conclusion -2
Generalization 5 :wh-um is a non strict strong
NPI
Generalization 6: wh-aavatu is a non strict weak
NPI
The revision:
Generalization 6: wh-aavatu is a non strict weak
NPI in DE and AA context and in AM context it is
a PPI