A Minimalist Approach to the Distribution of the Sentential Negative Marker in Yes-No Questions in Dashtestani Dialect

The present descriptive-analytic paper aims to investigate the distribution of the sentential negative marker in yes-no questions in Dashtestani dialect. As well as adhering to the beginning of the tensed main verbs and tensed auxiliary verbs in this dialect, the sentential negative marker is used immediately before the phrasal complements as well as the beginning of the negative yes-no questions. Relying on some theoretical and cross-linguistic pieces of evidence, the study examines the mechanisms beyond the optional behavior of this marker, together with its distribution in the hierarchy of the yes-no questions within the framework of the Minimalist Program. The findings of the study showed that the sentential negative marker is considered a ‘negative prefix’ in the position immediately preceding the tensed main verb as well as auxiliary verbs, and a ‘negative particle’ before the phrasal complements, each of them being generated in a different position. Consequently, in yes-no questions, the negative marker as a negative particle moves to the head of CP, satisfying, in this way, the Negative Criterion and yielding an interrogative interpretation. Lack of such a movement, on the contrary, renders the sentence ungrammatical.