A ‘Removal’ Type of Negative
Predicates
JIEUN JOE AND CHUNGMIN LEE
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
1. Introduction1
This paper aims to introduce a new class of negative predicates,
removal predicates, which have their own syntactic and semantic
behavior, and to scrutinize their lexical properties and thus broaden the
research of negative predicates. Interestingly, removal predicates and
their lexical antonyms, generation predicates, have opposite
characteristics in syntax and semantics. In this paper, we show that there
are two kinds of removal predicates according to their negative force.
One type of removal predicates, such as absence of, devoid of, free from
and sterile, which we call absence-state predicates, is monotone
decreasing and moreover anti-additive. And the other type of removal
predicates, such as disappear, turn off and destroy, which we call
removal-process predicates, is weaker in negativity, failing to be
monotone-decreasing, than the absence-state predicates.
In Section 2, we propose the semantics of removal predicates in
contrast with generation predicates. Removal predicates are universal
and negative, whereas generation predicates are existential and positive.
To show the universal nature of removal predicates we resort to
1We
thank the NPI Project (KRF '99-'01grant) group including Daeho Chung, Seungho
Nam and Ed Keenan for discussion and the audience of the 10 th J/K Conference at
UCLA including Ora Matushansky for comments and questions.
strong/weak readings in donkey anaphora. Our findings on the negative
nature of removal predicates reveal: (a) monotone-decreasingness and
anti-additivity of absence-state predicates; and (b) implicature
suspension of removal-process predicates.
In Section 3, we discuss the syntax of removal predicates. We
deal with the cases in which any is licensed by predicates such as
disappear in preverbal position. Interestingly, any is not licensed by
didn’t appear, even though it seems more negative than disappear.
In Section 4, we discuss morphological characteristics of
removal predicates. It is demonstrated that negative morphemes such as
indiscriminately in English, -peri-‘throw away; get through’ in Korean
and -tesimau- ‘throw away; get through’ in Japanese further support our
claim that removal predicates are negative. Throughout the paper, we
use the British National Corpus (henceforth BNC) to support our claim.
2. Semantics of Removal Predicates
2.1. Two Kinds of Removal Predicates
In this Section, we define a removal type of negative predicates
on semantic grounds. Removal predicates are predicates whose
meanings involve absence-state or removal-process. An absence-state
predicate denotes a simple event and is not decomposable, whereas a
removal-process predicate can be decomposed into a process subevent
and a result-state subevent.
In the narrow sense of the term, remove, eliminate and
disappear are removal predicates, but aspectual verbs such as finish
and end, though broader in scope, may be included. Removal predicates
are universal and negative. The lexical antonyms of these are generation
predicates, whose meanings involve presence-state or the process of
some entity’s coming into being. In this paper, we divide removal
predicates according to the observation (a) whether the predicate is
monotone decreasing; (b) whether the predicate has implicature
suspension; and (c) whether the predicate licenses any. (K stands for
Korean examples and J for Japanese ones.) Observe:
(1) Absence-state predicates:
absence of, clear of, be devoid of, free from, be freed of,
independence from, be innocent of, regardless of, (up to here
from Hoeksema and Klein 1995), sterile, barren of, arid,
immune
(2) Removal-process predicates:
a. Implicature suspension and licensing any in object/oblique
position: remove, destroy, get rid of, cut off, blot out, erase,
cancel, break down, annihilate, ttey-(K)/hanare-(J) 'remove',
chwuisoha-(K)/torike-(J) ‘cancel’, kkunh-(K)/tewoki- ‘cut’,
‘sever’(a relationship)(J), agehana- (the head) (J) ‘cut off’
b. Implicature suspension and licensing any in subject position:
disappear, vanish, perish, saraci-(K)/kie-(J)'disappear'
c. Implicature suspension and licensing any in both subject and
object position: end, break (middle verbs)
d. Implicature suspension and not licensing free choice any except
in a sugtrigging context: turn off, kku-(K)/ke-(J)'turn off',
desalinize, dehydrate (we adopt a unified theory of any (Lee
1999))
In the next section, we provide the semantics of two kinds of
removal predicates: absence-state predicates and removal-process
predicates.
2.2. Negative Nature of Removal Predicates
In this Section, we discuss negative nature of removal predicates.
As mentioned in the previous section, absence-state predicates such as
be devoid of, sterile and barren are monotone decreasing and antiadditive, based on Ladusaw (1996). And removal-process predicates
such as disappear and turn off are neither monotone decreasing nor
nonveridical in a strict sense. However, removal-process predicates are
negative and thus necessarily yield implicature suspension and
sometimes license any, while their antonyms, generation predicates, do
not license it at all and do not yield implicature suspension.
2.2.1. Monotone Decreasingness and Anti-additivity:
Absence-state predicates
Absence-state predicates given in (1) in the last section, are
monotone decreasing and anti-additive. Consider the definition of
monotone decreasingness and anti-additivity from Ladusaw (1996):
(3) a. If A and B are two Boolean algebras, the function f from A into B
is polarity reversing/monotone decreasing iff any a1, a2 in A,
if a1≤a2, then f(a2)≤f( a1)
b. A functor f is anti-additive iff f (xy) = f (x)f(y).
On this definition, absence-state predicates such as be devoid of are
monotone decreasing. But removal-process predicates such as destroy
and eliminate are not monotone decreasing. Compare (4) and (5):
(4) |a spelling error |≤|an error|
a. John’s term paper is devoid of an error. 
b. John’s term paper is devoid of a spelling error.
(5) |a spelling error |≤|an error|
a. John eliminated an error in the paper. --/-->
b. John eliminated a spelling error in the paper.
(4a) entails (4b), whereas (5a) does not entail (5b). That is, if John’s
paper is devoid of an error, naturally it means there is no spelling error.
However, if John eliminated an error, the error could be a spelling error,
a citation error or another kind of error. Thus, be devoid of is monotone
decreasing and eliminate is not monotone decreasing based on the
definition (3).
However, Hoeksema and Klein (1995:153) treat these two predicates,
eliminate and be devoid of, as monotone decreasing. Their claim is
based on the fact that eliminate as well as be devoid of licenses any as
shown in (6). In (6a) any is licensed by be devoid of and in (6b) it is
licensed by eliminate. And in (6c,d) any is licensed by destroy. Still
they are not monotone-decreasing. Observe:
(6) a. He was devoid of any of the normal human weaknesses such as
fear or self-doubt. (from BNC)
b. It is likely too that the priest tidied up and eliminated any traces
there may have been distorted thinking or language, as he almost
certainly corrected any theological mistakes, for his own safety.
(from BNC)
c. The death of Wordsworth's brother John in the spring of 1805
destroyed any remaining illusions. (from BNC)
d. But the worsening weather conditions as we cycled destroyed any
possibility of us seeing such stunning views. (from BNC)
Even though removal-process predicates such as eliminate and destroy
license any as in (6b, c, d), their negative force is weaker than monotone
decreasing, as demonstrated earlier. Consider (7).
(7) |a red-blocked house|≤|a house|
a. John destroyed a house.
b. John destroyed a red-blocked house.
Example (7a) does not entail (7b). That is, in (7a) it is possible that John
destroyed a white-blocked house or yellow-blocked house. Therefore,
just like eliminate in (5), destroy (or even remove) is not monotone
decreasing, although such verbs become more negative when they are
used in their extended mental or abstract senses, as in (6d). It further
shows that licensing any is not a sufficient condition but a necessary
condition of monotone decreasingness.
Returning to absence-state predicates, whose negative force is
stronger than monotone decreasing, the level of negativity differs. As
shown in (3), anti-additivity is defined as follows:
(8) A functor f is anti-additive iff f (xy) = f (x)f(y).
Depending on this definition, absence-state predicates such as be devoid
of is anti-additive. Consider (9):
(9) a. John’s term paper is devoid of a spelling error or a citation error.
b. John’s term paper is devoid of a spelling error AND is devoid of
citation error.
Examples like (9a) and (9b) above entail one another. That is, if it is
true that John’s term paper is devoid of a spelling error or a citation
error, it is also true that John’s term paper is devoid of a spelling error
and is devoid of a citation error, and vice versa. Therefore, absencestate predicates are monotone decreasing and anti-additive. In the next
section, we show the negative force of removal-process predicates.
2.2.2. Implicature Suspension: Removal-Process Predicates
Removal-process predicates given in (2) are neither monotone
decreasing nor nonveridical. However, they yield implicature
suspension, whereas their lexical antonyms do not have such a semantic
characteristic. Observe the relevant examples on implicature suspension
from Chierchia (2000):
(10) a. Every student who takes a written test or makes an oral
presentation will pass.
b. Expectation: a student that does both passes.
(suspension of exclusion implicature.)
Chierchia (2000) points out that any licensing contexts as in (10a) can
suspend implicature. That is, potential implicature ‘not both A and B’ is
suspended as in (10b). And Horn (1989) indicates that the computation
of scalar implicatures appears to be inhibited not only by negation but
also generally in ‘negation like’ monotone decreasing contexts such as
doubt. Our removal predicates can also suspend implicature ‘not both A
and B’ and take a role as a ‘negation-like’ context, whereas generation
predicates cannot suspend such an implicature. Consider the following
Korean examples in (11) and Japanese examples in (12):
(11) a. Haksayng-tul-un ppippi-na handphone-ul kke-t-ta.
Students-PL-TOP-beepers-or cellular phones-ACC turn off-PSTDEC
‘Students turned off beepers or cellular phones.’
b. Haksayng-tul-un ppippi-na handphone-ul khy-e-tta.
Students-PL-TOP-beepers-or cellular phones-ACC turn on-PST-DEC
‘Students turned on beepers or cellular phones.’
(12) a.Gakusei-tachi-wa pokeberu-ya keitaidenwa-no suichi-wo kesi-ta.
Students-PL-TOP-pager-or cellular phones-POS-switch-ACC turn off-PST
‘Students turned off beepers or cellular phones.’
b.Gakusei-tachi-wa pokeberu-ya keitaidenwa-no suichi-wo ire-ta.
Students-PL-TOP-pager-or cellular phones-POS-switch-ACC turn on-PST
‘Students turned on beepers or cellular phones.’
In (11a) and (12a), even if some students with both beepers and cellular
phones turned off both of them, suspending the implicature 'not both,'
the sentences are quite appropriate. However, in (11b) and (12b) even if
some students with both beepers and cellular phones turned on only one
kind of them, the sentences can be appropriate. Such an asymmetry
occurs to all pairs of removal-process predicates and their lexical
antonyms. The negative force of removal-process predicates is
substantiated in the same line of Horn (1989), Chierchia (2000) and
Chungmin Lee (2000). Consider (13), which also suspends implicature:
(13) a. Recently, the measles or chicken pox disappeared from the
schools.
b. Recently, the measles or chicken pox appeared in the schools.
In (13a), if some schools did not have measles but had chicken pox, and
the other schools did not have chicken pox but had measles, the
sentence is not appropriate. In the same situation, however, (13b) is.
2.2.3. (Non)veridicality: Removal-Process Predicates
One of the interesting properties of removal-process predicates is
that they are not nonveridical in its strict sense. In the previous section,
we demonstrate that removal-process predicates are negative and
suspend implicature, but are not monotone decreasing. Giannakidou
(1998:116) notes that negative verbs in Greek such as arnume ‘deny’
and apagorevo ‘forbid’ are nonveridical. However, different from other
negative predicates, removal-process predicates are not nonveridical.
That is, if Jane denies that she saw Paul, this does not entail that she did
not see Paul nor does it imply that she saw Paul, of course. Yet, in the
case of removal-process predicates such as disappear and destroy, if
any rumors about his past disappeared, this implies that there are no
rumors about his past left. So, disappear is veridical in a sense, with no
overt operator. Consider the following definition of (non)veridicality
from Chungmin Lee (1999), originated from Zwarts (1995).
(14) Definition
Let O be a monadic sentential operator. O is said to be veridical
just in case Op p is logically valid. If O is not veridical, then O is
nonveridical. E.g., ‘it seems,’ ‘it is possible’, ‘Sue hopes.’ Truthfunctional connectives are likewise defined. E.g., in p and q, both
the p- and q- positions are veridical; in p or q, and p if q, both the
p-and q-positions are nonveridical.
Based on the definition, our removal-process predicates are weakly
negative but are veridical. Consider:
(15) a. The death of Wordsworth's brother John in the spring of 1805
destroyed any remaining illusions. (from BNC)
b. Any rumors/doubt about his past disappeared.
In (15a), if it is true that the death of Wordsworth's brother John
destroyed any remaining illusions, then it is implied that there were no
illusions left. In (15b), if it is true that any rumors/doubt about his past
disappeared, then it is also implied that there remained no rumors or
doubt.
2.2.4. Licensing any in object/oblique/subject positions
As shown in previous section, removal predicates are divided into
two types: (a) absence-state predicates; and (b) removal-process
predicates. Absence-state predicates such as be devoid of and immune
license any in object/oblique/subject position as in (16)l. Consider the
examples in (16) from BNC:
(16) Any licensing in oblique position: Absence-state predicates
a. His face was devoid of any warmth or humor.
b. The rest of the room was barren of any furniture.
c. A problem with making recordings direct from electronic
instruments is that they are totally free from any natural
reverberation.
In addition, some removal-process predicates such as destroy,
disappear and cut off license any in object or subject positions. In most
cases, if removal-process predicates license any, it denotes an abstract
or psychological stuff such as illusion and doubt, with almost monotone
decreasing force. However, other removal-process predicates such as
turn off do not license any (except in a subtrigging context). Removalprocess predicates such as disappear, destroy and break license any as
in (17) but not their lexical antonyms, as shown in (17):
(17) Any licensing in subject/object position: Removal-process predicates
a. Any rumors about his past disappeared. (/*appeared.)
b. I urge the Minister to drop this idea and cancel (/*make) any
tenders he may have called for the construction of such a cruel
detention center. (from BNC)
c. The Government buys very little from South Africa and should,
in fact, have ended (/*begun) any purchase from that country
long ago. (from BNC)
d. The death of Wordsworth's brother John in the spring of 1805
destroyed (/*built) any remaining illusions. (from BNC)
However, generation predicates such as appear can license any in a
subtrigging context, as in (18). In fact, almost every predicate can
license any in a subtrigging context. (For a detailed discussion, see
Section 3.)
(18) Any student who passed the entrance exam appeared (at the party).
Note that other removal-process predicates such as turn off as well as its
lexical antonym turn on do not license any except in a subtrigging
context, as in (19):
(19) a. *Jane turned off any lamps in the building.
b. *Jane turned on any lamps in the building.
c. Any lamps in the building were turned off/on.
Compared to absence-state predicates, removal-process predicates do
not always license any. Additionally, the negative force of these
removal-process predicates is weaker than absence-state predicates.
In Korean as well as in Japanese, removal-process predicates such
as saraci-(K)/kie-(J) ‘disappear’ do not license strong NPIs such as te
isang (K)/koreijyo (J) ‘any more’, as in (20), and predicates such as
phokiha-(K)/yame-(J) ‘give up’ are anti-additive and thus license the
strong NPI te isang (K)/koreijyo(J) ‘any more’, as in (21) below:
(20) a.* LA -ey-nun te isang kkamagui-tul-i saracie-ssta. (Korean)
LA-in-TOP-any more-crow-PL-NOM-disappear-PST
b.* LA-ni-wa koreijyo karasu-tachi-ga kie-tta. (Japanese)
LA-in-TOP-any more-crow-PL-NOM-disappear-PST
‘ In LA any more crows disappeared.’
(21) a. Jane-un te isang nonmwun-ul sseki-rul phokihay-ssta (Korean)
Jane-TOP-anymore-paper-ACC write-ACC-give up-PST
b. Jane-wa koreijyo ronbun-wo kakukoto-wo yame-ta (Japanese)
Jane-TOP-anymore-paper-ACC-write-ACC-give up-PST
‘Jane gave up writing paper anymore.’
Removal-process predicates in Korean license a weaker existential NPI
form etten- N-i-ra-to ‘any’, as in (22):
(22) a. Etten toshi-i-ra-to pakoyhay-ss-ta. (Korean)
any city -be-DEC-C destroy-PST-DEC
Lit. ‘(They) destroyed any city.’
b.* Etten toshi-ra-to kenselhay-ss-ta.
any city -be-DEC-C destroy-PST-DEC
Lit. ‘(They) constructed any city ’.
Etten- N -i-ra-to (K) ‘any’ is allowed to occur with removal predicates,
but is awkward with generation predicates. In a clearer piece of
evidence, removal predicates, as universal ones, are not likely to be
combined with contrastive topic marker (heretofore CT-marker) -nun,
whereas their lexical antonyms have no such problems. Consider (23):
(23) a. ?? pakoy-/cwukiki-/saraciki-NUN hay-ss-ta
destroy/kill / disappear CT do-PST-DEC
‘ It (is) destroyed/killed/disappeared’
b. kenselhaki-/kwucohaki-/natanaki-NUN hay-ss-ta
construct /rescue / appear
CT do-PST-DEC
‘It (is) constructed/rescued/appeared’
In the next section, we show another semantic characteristics of removal
predicates: universality.
2.3 Universal Nature of Removal Predicates
In this section, we discuss universal nature of removal predicates as
well as existential nature of generation predicates. Krifka (1996) and
Yoon (1996) introduce total/partial predicates to explain preferred
strong/weak readings in a donkey sentence. We replace total by
universal and partial by existential to generalize the phenomena.
Consider the following examples from Krifka (1996:140):
(24) a. Every farmer who owned a donkey kept it healthy during the
rainy season.(strong reading)
b. Every farmer who owned a donkey kept it sick during the rainy
season. (weak reading)
In the above examples, healthy is a total predicate and sick is a partial
predicate. When the given predicate is total, the sentence is true if it
involves almost all donkeys. However, when the predicate is partial, it is
acceptable, even when the event involves ‘some’ of the donkeys with
the anaphor it. The same judgment is valid for our removal and
generation predicates. Removal predicates are total and, in our terms,
universal, while generation ones are partial and existential. Consider:
(25) a. Every student who owned an error in his essay obliterated it.
b. Every student who owned a reward added it to his resume.
(26) a. Every student who owned a lamp turned it off.
b. Every student who owned a lamp turned it on.
As in (25a) and (26a), removal predicates such as obliterate and turn off
show strong readings, while as in (25b) generation predicates such as
add and turn on show weak readings. Thus, in the donkey sentence, if
the main predicate is a removal predicate, the E-type pronoun it exhibits
a strong reading, whereas if the main predicate is a generation predicate,
the E-type pronoun it exhibits a weak reading. That is, in the situation of
(25a), the sentence is expected to be true if every student obliterated any
kind of errors in his paper, while in the situation of (25b) the sentence is
expected to be true even if some students added only remarkable
records, but not all of them. Interestingly, the following pair of
aspectual predicates shares this strong/weak contrast:
(27) a. Every student who owned a comic book finished (reading) it.
b. Every student who owned a comic book began (to read) it.
E-type pronoun it in (27a) has a strong reading as with removal
predicates, whereas (27b) has a weak reading like generation predicates.
Ter meulen (1995:32) tried to show that aspectual verbs such as finish
and end are monotone decreasing, while the aspectual verbs such as
start and begin are monotone increasing. However, in the strict sense of
monotonicity, aspectual verbs such as finish and end are not monotone
decreasing. Observe:
(28) |a spelling test |≤|a test|
a. Jane ended a test. --/-->
b. Jane ended a spelling test.
(28a) does not entail (28b).2
3. Syntax of Removal Predicates
In this Section, we discuss the syntax of removal predicates. We
analyze the cases in which any is licensed by removal predicates such as
disappear in the preverbal position. Our analysis is based on the two
theoretical assumptions: (a) any reconstruction at LF; (b) Unaccusative
Hypothesis.
3.1. Asymmetries in NPI-licensing
Consider the following examples in (29):
(29) a. Any rumors/doubts about his past disappeared.
(inherently negative predicate)
b. *Any rumors/doubt about his past appeared. (positive predicate)
c. *Any rumors/doubts about his past didn’t appear
(overtly negative predicate)
(29b) and (29c) are ungrammatical, whereas (29a) is grammatical.
Examples in (29) raise the two problems as follows: (a) why disappear
2
We owe Tim Stowell for his observation that finish does not seem to have any
monotone-decreasingness effects.
licenses NPI any, whereas appear, the lexical antonyms of disappear
does not license any; and (b) why disappear licenses NPI any, whereas
seemingly more negative predicate didn’t appear does not license it.
The asymmetry found in (29a, b) reflects the negative nature of
disappear and further supports our claim that disappear is a negative
predicate. However, the asymmetry found in (29b, c) is still problematic,
as an overtly negative predicate does not license any, whereas an
inherently negative predicate licenses any. In the next section, we
propose a solution to this problem.
3.2. The Analysis
3.2.1. LF Approach to NPI licensing
From a syntactic point of view, there could be two approaches,
based on S-structure and Logical Form (henceforth LF) in explaining
any licensing in preverbal indefinite. Consider the following examples
from Uribe-Etxebarria (1995:346-48).
(30) a. A doctor who knew anything about the acupuncture was not
available.
b. *A doctor who knew anything about acupuncture was not
intelligent. (No bleached predicate)
c. A solution of any of these problems doesn’t exist.
d. *Anybody didn’t come.(No indefinite NP in which any is
embedded.)
Following the S-Structure approach, some cases such as (30a, c) are
problematic, as the triggered element any precedes the triggering
element ‘not’. In such a case Neg cannot c-commands the NPI but
examples in (30a, c) are grammatical. Thus, Uribe-Etxebarria (1995)
proposes an LF approach to solve this problem. She proposes that
polarity items reconstruct at LF if there is a bleached predicate3 and any
is embedded in an indefinite NP such as in (30a, c), in contrast with
(30b, d). However, we find the following counter-examples. Observe:
(31) a. The solution(s) to any of these problems does/do not exist.
(No indefinite NP)
b. Any rumors about his past disappeared. (No bleached predicate)
In (31a), NPI any is licensed inside a definite NP, not an indefinite NP.
In (31b), any is licensed, although there is no bleached predicate.
Therefore, in our analysis, we basically assume the LF approach to
3
Szabolsci (1986) introduces ‘bleached predicates’ to explain the Definiteness Effects in
Hungarian. Those verbs that express existence, or changes in the state of existence or
availability belong to that category.
account for any licensing in the preverbal position but do not strictly
follow these requirements.
3.2.2. NPI any licensing: The case of disappear
At first, consider the following examples, in which any is licensed in
the preverbal position.
(32) a. Any rumors/doubt about his past disappeared(/*appeared.)
b. Any possible variation of dose delivered from position to
position was eliminated (/*added) by rotating the entire
assembly at six revolutions per minute. (from BNC)
c. Rotating the entire assembly at six revolutions per minute
eliminated (/*added) any possible variation of dose delivered
from variation to variation.
In the above examples, any is licensed by removal predicates such as
disappear and was eliminated in preverbal positions. However, their
lexical antonyms do not license any, as they are not negative.
Interestingly, passives such as was eliminated in (32b) also license any
in the preverbal position, whereas actives such as eliminate in (32c)
licenses any in the postverbal position. Assuming the Unaccusative
Hypothesis (Perlmutter 1978), we consider passives such as was
eliminated as well as unaccusative predicates such as disappear to
license any in the postverbal position at D-Structure and then,
reconstruct at LF so as not to violate the case filter. Keeping this
reconstruction idea in mind, consider (33):
(33) a. Any rumors/doubts about his past disappeared.
b. ?*Any rumors/doubts about his past didn’t appear.
c. ?*Any rumors/doubts about his past didn’t disappear.
Presumably, (33b), where overtly negative predicate is used, is stronger
in negative force than (33a), where inherently negative predicate is
used. However, in (33), disappear in (33a) licenses any, whereas didn’t
disappear and didn’t appear do not license the NPI any.
Examples in (33) support our reconstruction idea. That is, in (33a)
any phrase is preceded by disappear in D-Structure and LF it moves to
the subject position so as not to violate the case filter. On the other hand,
the reason why (33b) and (33c) are awkward is that overt negation ‘not’
blocks movement and becomes a barrier. Parallel to this, we can search
no phrases such as didn’t avoid any and didn’t dislike any in the corpus,
whereas we can easily find the phrases such as avoid any and dislike
any in the same corpus.4
4
Native speakers say that double-negative sentences such as (33c) are difficult
understand and that they would not use such sentences in everyday life.
4. Morphological-/Collocational Characteristics of Removal
Predicates
4.1. Serial Verb Construction: -peri-(K), -tesimau-(J)
Consider the following Korean and Japanese examples.
(34) a. pakoyhay-/cwukie-/saracie-peri-ess-ta (Korean)
destroy/kill/disappear- get through-PST- DEC
‘(They) destroyed/kill/disappeared (some-one/-thing).’
b.* kenselhay-/kwucohay-/natanay- peri-ess-ta
construct/rescue/appear -get through- PST-DEC
‘constructed/rescued/appeared.’
(35) a. hakaishi-/koroshi-/kie-tesima-tta (Japanese)
destroy/kill/disappear- get through-PST
‘destroyed/kill/disappeared.’
b.* kensetushi-/suku-/araware-tesima-tta
construct/rescue/appear -get through- PST
‘constructed/rescued/appeared.’
In Korean and Japanese, removal predicates occur with auxiliaries such
as -peri-(K) and tesimau-(J) ‘throw away; get through’, respectively. By
contrast, generative predicates are not allowed to co-occur with those
auxiliaries.
4.2. Removal vs. Generation affixes/particles/prepositions
Following affixes, particles and prepositions from English and Korean
occur with removal and generation predicates, respectively. Observe:
(36) a. Removal morphemes: off, of, from away, out, ex-, de-, dis-, ob-,
-eyse ‘from’(K), myel-/pak-/so-/sak-/tal-/ke-‘root up’(K)
b. Generation morphemes: on, into, to, at, -ey ‘to; on’ (K)
(37) Removal Predicates with Removal Morphemes
sakceha-‘eliminate’(K), semmyelha-‘annihilate’(K), pakthalha‘rob of’, ‘rip off’(K)
4.3. Negative Adverbs
There is a list of adverbs that precede our removal predicates.
Generation predicates are not likely to occur with these adverbs.
Consider such negative adverbs in (38) and further observe the relevant
sentence in (39), below:
(38) mocori(K)/kotogotoku(J) ‘with no exception’; mwuchapyelcekuro
(K) and musabetuni(J) ‘indiscriminately’; utterly, indiscriminately,
flatly in English
(39) a. Soldiers indiscriminately killed citizens. (negative adverb)
b. *Soldiers indiscriminately rescued citizens.
In English, indiscriminately easily occurs with ethically negative verbs
such as kill and does not easily occur with ethically positive verbs such
as praise and rescue.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, we identified a unique type of weakly negative
predicates, i.e., removal predicates. The process-involved ones yield
implicature suspension but are not monotone decreasing unlike other
stronger types of negative predicates. The absence-state-involved ones,
on the other hand, reveal monotone-decreasingness in Korean, Japanese
and English. The absence-state removal predicates can license any in
English.
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