On the quantificational force of negative sensitive items in Turkish

Burak Oney (Cornell)

Negative Sensitive Items (NSIs) in natural languages can manifest in either existential or universal forms. Given the equivalence in truth conditions between ¬⟩∃ and ∀⟩¬, determining the true nature of NSIs proves challenging. This study addresses this issue within the context of Turkish. In order to tease out ¬⟩∃ and ∀⟩¬ readings, we create controlled configurations where (i) NSIs are obligatorily interpreted above or below negation, and (ii) ¬⟩∃ and ∀⟩¬ may yield distinct truth-conditions (such as non-anti-additive contexts). Additionally, we compare them with NSIs in languages known for their existential nature, such as English. Our findings show that NSIs interpreted under the scope of negation yield ill-formedness, while interpreting NSIs above the scope of the negation results in grammaticality. Therefore, we argue that Turkish NSIs are best analyzed as wide-scope universal quantifiers, rather than narrow-scope existential.