Referring to a proposition ‘inside’ a negated one: the Dutch and German modal particles 'ook' and 'auch' in contextual counterfactuals

This paper is concerned with reference to propositions that occur in the scope of negation. In the constructions considered, the Dutch and German modal particles ook and auch (literally ‘also’) appear to be necessary for some speakers to refer to non-negated content. In addition, the modal verb zouden ‘would’ or simple past (in Dutch) or subjunctive mood (in German), as well as a past participle (in both languages) seem to be required. The main goal of the present study is to account for the unexpected use of the modal particles. It provides a novel analysis of the particles in von Fintel and Gillies’ (2010) framework on must. Furthermore, it explores two ways of analyzing the counterfactual markers in theories by Karawani (2014) and Schueler (2008).