A Negative Concord Approach to SIKA-NAI Construction

This paper shows the universal quantificational properties of the SIKA-phrase in Japanese, but it is hard to conclude that such properties are inherent to it because of its morphology and semantics. Through the comparison of the morphology of the SIKA-phrase with that of universal quantifiers in Japanese, I claim that an indefinite nominal, which is sometimes unpronounced in the SIKA-NAI construction, heads the SIKA-phrase, and that this indefinite head has such universal properties.

Also, because of its universal quantificational properties, this large DP containing the SIKA-phrase should be regarded as a Negative Concord Item, not as a Negative Polarity Item. This approach gives a new solution to a potential problem of the SIKA-NAI construction, i.e. the occurrence of the SIKA-phrasein the subject position.