Negation and Finiteness in BCMS

Abstract

Future tense sentences in BCMS (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian) can be formed in two general ways: the future auxiliary verb ću can combine either with (i) a simple infinite verb, or (ii) a da-clause, which contains a fully finite verb. This paper investigates an interesting empirical puzzle, namely, that the latter type resists being negated. The main proposal is that this puzzle and other phenomena related to finiteness and negation can be explained if we assume that NegP of a finite clause projects above the first fully finite XP. In other words, NegP can indeed appear in different positions in the clause (e.g., Zanuttini 1997), but that is determined by whether the XP immediately dominated by NegP is fully finite. I also provide an explanation for some apparent exceptions to this pattern.