ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, I discussed in detail the location of NegP in the clause structure of Hindi. In this chapter, I will discuss the implications of the location of NegP for the licensing of Negative Polarity Items (NPIs henceforth). This chapter gives a thorough description of NPIs in Hindi and shows the contexts where they are permitted in the presence or absence of a clause mate negation marker (e.g. questions, modality, conditionals, and adversative predicates), then discusses their licensing conditions. On the basis of the occurrence and licensing of NPIs in the presence and absence of a negative licensor, I show that there are clearly two distinct types of NPIs in Hindi: ones that require a clause mate c-commanding negative licensor (strong NPIs) and ones that are permitted in long-distance licensing contexts (weak NPIs). I will discuss previous accounts of Hindi NPI licensing, such as the LF raising of negation proposed by Mahajan (1990a). I will also examine the implications of various proposals for NPI licensing, such as Jackendoff (1969), Lasnik (1975), Ladusaw (1979), Linebarger (1980), Progovac (1994), and Laka (1994). Later in the chapter, I show some problems with the LF based account (Mahajan 1990a) for the licensing of NPIs in Hindi. Finally in this chapter, I outline a proposal for NPI licensing in which I argue that NPIs are licensed overtly and that the licensing of NPIs in Hindi does not involve any covert displacement operation.
