Semantics and syntax of Herhangi bir :|an alternative-based approach to Turkish polarity items

Abstract

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, I present a description of the complex behavior of the Turkish polarity sensitive item herhangi bir. Then, based on the picture that emerged, I provide a unified analysis that accounts for the semantic and syntactic properties that connects herhangi bir with both free choice items and negative polarity items. I adopt an alternative-based framework that has been proposed by Chierchia (2013), who links polarity sensitivity to obligatorily active alternatives. Within this framework, all NPIs and FCIs are analyzed with respect to the same alternative set, and parametric variation is handled with simple switches to the basic elements of the framework, such as the position of the modal, the mode of exhaustification, the subset of alternatives that needs to be exhaustified. The analysis indicates that associating restricted distribution of herhangi bir to obligatorily activated alternatives that require either a downward entailing context or a modal context to be exhaustified consistently can explain the dual nature of herhangi bir and its tie with other polarity sensitive items such as the pure NPI hiç ‘at all’ and pure FCI herhangi n.