Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 2020, Qupperneq 149

c. *Það mun ekki hafa neinn verið hér.
expl will not have anybody been here
In Swedish, only the post-verbal pivot is acceptable, see (69a). In Ice -
landic, nokkur and neinn can also follow the negation in the IP, see (70b)
and (71b). The Spec,vP position is generally not available, see (70c) and
(71c), but is possible for narrowly focussed arguments, see Sigurðsson
(2019:598f.).
If negated pivots occur in a special Spec,NegP position also in Ice -
landic, one might expect them to be able to co-occur with an IP-pivot,
but, as Christensen (1991) and Engels (2010) note, this is not possible for
many speakers, see (72c), adapted from Christensen (1991:156f.).
(72)a. Jón hefur engar bækur keypt. (Ice.)
Jón has no books bought
‘Jón hasn’t bought any books.’
b. Það hefur víst einhver málfræðingur keypt bókina.
expl has apparently some linguist bought book.def
c. */?Það hefur víst einhver málfræðingur engar bækur keypt.
expl has apparently some linguist no books bought
Some Icelandic speakers find (72c) quite acceptable and there may be
some interaction with focus since negation is focus sensitive. Halldór
Ármann Sigurðsson, who finds (72c) ungrammatical finds (73a), where
the pivot is modified by bara ‘only’, better. Adding alls ‘at all’, as in (73b),
has a similar effect.25
(73)a. ??Það hefur víst bara einn málfræðingur engar bækur keypt.
expl has apparently only one linguist no books bought
‘Apparently only one linguist bought no books.’
b. ??Það hefur víst einn málfræðingur alls engar bækur keypt.
expl has apparently one linguist at.all no books bought
‘Apparently one linguist bought no books at all.’
c. *Það hefur víst bara einn málfræðingur ekki neinar bækur keypt.
expl has apparently only one linguist not any books bought
d. Það hefur víst bara einn málfræðingur ekki keypt neinar bækur.
expl has apparently only one linguist not bought no books
‘Apparently only one linguist bought no books.’
Note that it is not possible to have a negated object follow ekki if it precedes
the non-finite verb, as in (73c), whereas it is fine after the verb, see (73d).
Thematic constraints on presentational sentences in Icelandic and Swedish 149
25 This example was suggested by Einar Freyr Sigurðsson.