Polarity Items in Interrogatives : A Postscript to Borkin (1971)

Abstract

Borkin (1971) established that the acceptability of negative polarity items (NPI, hereafter) in interrogative sentences is conditioned by the assumptions and expectations of the speaker. It is the purpose of this squib to demonstrate that the acceptability of NPI in interrogatives also depends on the ilIocutionary force that the interrogative sentence is taken to have. More precisely: NPI are unacceptable in interrogatives, under a given assignment of iIIocutionary force, if the speech act involved has an affirmative paraphrase.