Locality Restrictions on N-Word Licensing

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to consider the locality restrictions that hold between Negation and N(egative)-words within the framework of the Minimalist Program. The discussions are based on data from Amazigh, in particular the Tashelhit variety spoken in the Southwest of Morocco. By N-words, I intend elements like ‘ħtta+NP’ ( no-one) which are licensed by the negative head ‘ur’.  In the suggested analysis, I show that certain tense- related restrictions as well as island-like locality constraints affect the surface distribution of N-words. I also argue that sensitivity to such locality constraints cannot be accounted for in terms of constraints on movement; rather, it is a property of the chain formed by the negative head and the N-word in- situ.