Negative Polarität im Finnischen? Terminologische Entwicklung und Vergleich mit dem Deutschen

This paper discusses the development of the Finnish terminology for negative polarity with relation to international literature, especially the equivalents in German, which was the lingua franca in the Finnish studies, as the terminology in question emerged. The Finnish term kieltohakuisuus (Eng. negopetality) was originally defined purely statistically as a tendency to favor negative clauses, but it has later developed into a more strictly definable meaning of ‘negative polarity.’ In addition to negative polarity items (NPIs, e.g. kukaan ‘anyone,’ enää ‘anymore,’ koskaan ‘ever’), Finnish negative clauses show other asymmetries with affirmative clauses (connegative verb form and partitive of negation), and these phenomena are generally grouped in grammars. This descriptive context and the central role of the polarity items e.g. in the Finnish indefinite system have supported the adoption of the terminology despite the sparsity of the research on Finnish NPIs. Still, the terms kieltohakuisuus and negatiivinen polaarisuus are used somewhat
variably, and the goal of the present paper is to clarify the relations of the different phenomena and the terms. German scholars have adopted the English terminology (Ger. negative Polarität), whereas the original translation for kieltohakuisuus, i.e. Negopetalität, has basically not spread outside the Finnic
studies. For the elements that only prefer negative contexts, international scholars are likely to favor terms semi-/quasi-NPI or negative affinity.