Not X but Y

[Borsley R D]

Does anyone know of any HPSG work (or any other sensible work) on what 
might be called the not X but Y construction, exemplified by 'Kim saw not 
Lee but Sandy' and 'Kim talked not to Lees but to Sandy'. On the face of 
it, X can be more or less any phrase, including phrases which cannot 
normally combine with 'not'.

Bob Borsley


Prof. Robert D. Borsley
Department of Language and Linguistics
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
COLCHESTER CO4 3SQ, UK

rborsley at essex.ac.uk
tel: +44 1206 873762
fax: +44 1206 872198
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~rborsley

Forthcoming book:

Borsley, R.D., M. Tallerman and D. Willis (in press), The Syntax of Welsh, 
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.