On the licensing of Hmong emphatic particle li

In this paper, I present a first systematic description of the distribution of the Hmong emphatic particle li, and an analysis of its semantics and syntax. I show that the appearance of the emphatic li requires licensing, and that it is licensed in NPI, free choice, and intensification contexts. The unique combination of environments that license the emphatic li, to my knowledge, has not been previously described. I show that the use of the particle li signals a higher degree or a wider domain of quantification than the sentence without the particle, and that it gives rise to a negative bias in questions. I argue that the emphatic li requires a clause-mate licensor through an analysis of its interaction with the discourse/aspectual particle lawm. Finally, I draw a connection between Hmong emphatic li and the English NPI/quantity word much and Hindi enclitic -hii, that supports the connectedness of intensification and NPI contexts. The paper adds an adverbial item from an understudied language to the empirical base for the construction of theories on why polarity items exist, why the same form is often used in negative polarity and free choice contexts, and how negative polarity may be connected to intensification.