The syntax of correlative adverbs

The status of words like either, both and neither, here referred to as “correlative adverbs” or “correlatives”, is controversial. Using relevant data from Germanic languages, I shall show that the analyses of Schwarz (1999) and Larson (1985) are inadequate. Instead, I will suggest an analysis based on the assumptions in Hendriks (2001a,b, 2002): that correlatives are focus particles. Their syntactic position is discussed with the hypothesis that focus particles are adverbs, and I suggest, inspired by the adverb hierarchies of Cinque (1997), that there is a designated Correlative Phrase position. My analysis includes overt and covert movement, which explains some correlations between different interpretations of scope and syntactic positions, as discussed also by Larson (1985) and Bayer (1996). My analysis not only gives an account of this kind of scope ambiguity, but also accounts for the fact that each correlative is associated with only one conjunction; that with phrasal coordination, the correlative can be displaced from the conjunction phrase; and that with sentential coordination, the correlative can be part of the first conjunct.