96 ROBERT D. VAN VALIN, JR.
but ne adds a special wrinkle: it is topical, but it must cooccur with focal
quantifier. Hence the NP must be split into pronominal head and quan
tifier, and each must be assigned a different pragmatic function. In step 4,
the differential pragmatic status of the head pronoun and its quantifier
forces them to be realized on different sides of the nucleus; the clitic pro
noun must occur before it, while the focal quantifier appears in the
immediate post-nuclear primary focus position. This yields (81b).
Ne appears to be subject to a curious set of semantic and pragmatic
restrictions; on the one hand, it occurs only with a restricted class of verbs
and then only with a specific type of argument, and this argument must be
partially focal. These seemingly disparate restrictions do, however, relate
to each other in a principled way. In the first place, the "direct object" of
transitive verbs and inverted "subjects" of intransitive verbs all occur in the
immediate post-nuclear focus position; "subjects" of transitive verbs cannot
appear there (cf. 80b) and are consequently not potential foci. But why
should ne be restricted to some intransitive verbs and not others, i.e. to
non-activity verbs? The answer lies in the the semantics of the constructions