In Carrier, an Athabaskan language of the Central Interior of British Columbia, the negative particle 'aw as well as some adverbs has rightward scope. As a result, material within the scope of negation other than the verb must follow 'aw, though topicalized constituents fall within scope even though they precede 'aw Other scope-bearing elements, including cha "also" and z "only", have leftward scope. These particles underlie the constructions S za Vaux "to keep on S-ing" and S cha Vaux "to S also", in which the choice of dummy verb Vaux is determined by the event type, valence, and aspect of the main clause. It is suggested that the use of the dummy verb results from the interaction of leftward scope with the requirement that the clause be verb final.

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