A Step into Khmer’s Double Negation Mystery: Clause-final Marker ទ[te:] as Negative Polarity Focus

In Khmer, basic negation is formed using two negation elements: the preverbal marker មិន [mɨn] and the clause-final marker ទេ[te:]. However, there are cases where [te:] is optional with the utterance still retaining its negative meaning; when it is present, it is claimed that the utterance can have two readings: plain negation and emphatic negation (Saparova, 2020). Thus, there is speculation as to what function [te:] serves and what it contributes to the semantic meaning of a sentence. This thesis examines the optionality of [te:] through the lens of polarity focus, drawing on Wilder’s (2013) and Goodhue’s (2018, 2022) observations. It argues that the presence of [te:] depends on the salience of contrasting alternatives in the discourse context, which license polarity focus under the principle of maximize presupposition. When such antecedents are explicit, [te:] is required and emphasizes the truth of the negated proposition via polarity focus. In addition, this thesis finds that, unlike English, constituent focus marking in Khmer relies on polarity focus markers rather than prosodic prominence. It also identifies a connection between question markers and polarity focus markers: the clause-initial question marker តើ[taə] for positive polarity focus and the polar question marker ទេ[te:] for negative polarity focus.