Phase-Edge Features and the Syntax of Polarity Particles

In this article, I argue that the phase edge in the C field shares features via Agree with an intermediate layer (FinP) and with a lower projection (ΣP), allowing it to determine the type of clause and its polarity. I adopt a feature-sharing relation of Agree that connects all of the polarity features present on heads (be they Σ, Fin, and, in some cases, VFoc) to a polarity feature in Force, the relevant phase-edge position for clausal typing. This explains, among other things, why embedded clauses containing a polarity feature can only satisfy the selectional properties of a particular class of (matrix) verbs.