Anymore, this feature varies: An experimental study of non-polarity anymore

Authors

  • Frances Blanchette Pennsylvania State University
  • Valerie Keppenne Pennsylvania State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5730

Keywords:

polarity sensitivity, experimental semantics, regional variation, experimental syntax, Central Pennsylvania dialect

Abstract

The non-polarity “positive” anymore construction (NPAM; e.g., I write letters anymore, ‘I write letters nowadays’) is a vernacular feature found in the Midland dialect region. Analyses have suggested that while its negative polarity counterpart (I don’t write letters anymore) is associated with a positive presupposition and a negative assertion, NPAM contributes a negative presupposition and a positive assertion. This paper presents an experiment testing this hypothesis. The results provide initial support for the negative presupposition—positive assertion analysis of NPAM, but suggest that regional exposure is not necessary to know this feature does not share the same meaning as NPI-anymore.

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Published

2024-05-17

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2024): Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Frances Blanchette, Valerie Keppenne

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Published by the LSA with permission of the author(s) under a CC BY 4.0 license.

How to Cite

Blanchette, Frances, and Valerie Keppenne. 2024. “Anymore, This Feature Varies: An Experimental Study of Non-Polarity Anymore”. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 9 (1): 5730. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5730.