A head movement analysis of second position clitics: The case of Russian polar particle li

Abstract

Russian polar particle li is usually analyzed as a second position clitic, constrained to appear at the linearly second position in the clause. I suggest that this requirement is a consequence of head movement: li is generated in —a polarity projection—merged directly above the associated polar constituent (X). This constituent must head‐move and left‐adjoin to li. The complex head (X+li) is largely equivalent to a wh‐word: at later stages of the derivation, it is attracted to the left periphery of the clause. li can be seen as an analog of a wh‐morpheme, which merges with different morphemes to form a wh‐word. Treating X+li as a complex head allows us to reduce the second position requirement of li to the left edge requirement on the X+li, a requirement often postulated for wh‐words. I provide further evidence for the hypothesis by showing the complementarity of li and negation.