Articles

KATIYEN as a common ground modifier in Turkish

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Abstract

KATIYEN is classified as a negative polarity item that necessarily takes scope

under clause-mate negation (Kelepir 2001) and subcategorized as a (super)strong-NPI

that is licensed in antimorphic contexts (Görgülü 2017, following Zwarts 1995). I argue

that KATIYEN has a dual use as a negative sensitive item and a degree modifier on the

common ground. The novel data I present indicate that KATIYEN can be used in

structurally (and semantically) nonnegative sentences to express an attitude holder’s

ultimate degree of certainty. I aim to capture its dual status by suggesting that KATIYEN

is a universal modal adverb that behaves similarly to the Greek emphatic NPIs by

taking scope over negation (Giannakidou 2000), in addition has a common ground

managing function of marking the interlocutor’s strong stance towards the positive or

negative proposition.

Keywords: KATIYEN, negative polarity items, emphatic adverbs, modal adverbs, degree modification, common ground management

How to Cite:

Yakut-Kubaş, A., (2023) “KATIYEN as a common ground modifier in Turkish”, Proceedings of the Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic 7, 114 - 127. doi: https://doi.org/10.3765/ptu.v7i1.5431

Rights: Ayşe Büşra Yakut-Kubaş