The Position of Negative Element in Prepositional Phrases with Negative Indefinites

Zovko Dinković, Irena. (2013). The Position of Negative Element in Prepositional Phrases with Negative Indefinites. Rasprave: Časopis Instituta za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, 39(2). pp. 675-690.

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Abstract

Croatian negative indefinite expressions, or the so-called ni-words, are complex forms made by adding the prefix ni- to simple forms of indefinite pronouns. The Croatian standard norm prescribes that in prepositional phrases involving negative idefinite pronouns (the so-called ni-pronouns), the negative element ni should be separated from the pronoun and put in front of the preposition. However, in everyday communication one may often notice the use of the word order P + negative indefinite pronoun, and this word order has also made its way into newspapers and other media. This paper attempts to determine whether there is a significant difference in meaning between the order ni + P + indefinite pronoun and the order P + negative indefinite pronoun to account for such a change in language. We also analyze the frequency of use of these two different word orders in the Croatian National Corpus, examining eleven most frequent prepositions and six simple indefinite pronouns.

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