Chapter 3. Negative Concord and sentential negation in Gallo

2019 ◽  
pp. 54-71
Author(s):  
Nicolas Guilliot ◽  
Samantha Becerra-Zita
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Sentential Negation

scholarly journals Exploring negation in Awing

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
NYOMY Cyrine Cyrine
Keyword(s):  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Negative Polarity Items ◽  
Polarity Items ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
West Region ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Universal Category ◽  
Negative Marker

Negation is a universal category and languages differ in many respects in the way they express the latter (see Klima 1964). In this regards, some languages express sentential negation (a subcategorization of negation) with one marker (Dutch, German, English, etc.) while others like French uses two markers. Alongside markers used to express sentential negation, other items, among which Negative Polarity Items, mark negation and tight a particular element within its domain. In this paper, I aim at providing a picture of the expression of negation in Awing (a Bantu Grassfield langue of the Ngemba Group spoken in the North West region of Cameroon). Accordingly, sentential negation is expressed with two discontinuous markers kě…pô. One fact important to the presence of this negative marker is the movement of postverbal elements to a preverbal position turning the SVO structure in non-negative clause to an SOV pattern in negative clauses. In addition, the study describes other negative elements and negation subcategories. In last, the study of negative concord reveals that Awing belongs to the group of Strict Negative Concord (SNC) languages in which n-words must co-occur with negative marker to yield negation.

Sentential negation in early child English

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSALIND THORNTON ◽  
GRACIELA TESAN
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Longitudinal Pattern ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Negative Marker ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Children First ◽  
Positive Input ◽  
Economical Parameter

Starting with the seminal work of Klima & Bellugi (1966) and Bellugi (1967), young English-speaking children have been observed to pass through a stage at which their negative utterances differ from those of adults. Children initially use not or no, whereas adults use negative auxiliary verbs (don't, can't, etc.). To explain the observed mismatches between child and adult language, the present study adopts Zeijlstra's (2004, 2007, 2008a, b) Negative Concord Parameter, which divides languages according to whether they interpret negation directly in the semantics with an adverb, or license it in the syntactic component, in which case the negative marker is a head and the language is a negative concord language. Our proposal is that children first hypothesize that negation is expressed with an adverb, in keeping with the more economical parameter value. Because English is exceptional in having both an adverb and a head form of negation, children must also add a negative head (i.e. n't) to their grammar. This takes considerable time as the positive input that triggers syntactic negation and negative concord is absent in the input for standard English, and children must find alternative evidence. The Negative Concord Parameter accounts for an intricate longitudinal pattern of development in child English, as non-adult structures are eliminated and a new range of structures are licensed by the grammar.

The Morpho-Syntactic Nature of the Negative Marker

2020 ◽  
pp. 116-134
Author(s):  
Chiara Gianollo
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Negative Marker ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Structural Aspects

This chapter is dedicated to the morpho-syntactic properties of markers of sentential negation, and to the relation between such properties and other aspects of the syntax of negation. It reviews the results of cross-linguistic research and describes the different forms of negative markers (affixes, particles, auxiliary verbs, complementizers). It also discusses a number of correlations between the form of the sentential negative marker and more general structural aspects (doubling, pre- vs. postverbal negation, presence of Negative Concord).

Negation in Old High German

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Jäger
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Specific Question ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Negative Indefinites

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to give a syntactic analysis of sentential negation in the history of German with special emphasis on Old High German. This analysis attributes the main changes in the syntax of negation not to a change in syntactic structure but to changes in the lexical filling of the head and specifier of NegP. In addition, the more specific question of negative indefinites and negative concord (NC) in Old High German is discussed. It is argued that negative indefinites should be analysed as semantically non-negative but simply formally neg-marked. It is assumed that there is no obligatory movement of n-indefinites to SpecNegP, neither overtly nor covertly.

scholarly journals Negative concord in Romanian as polyadic quantification

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianina Iordăchioaia ◽  
Frank Richter
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Higher Order Logic ◽  
Logical Language ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Polyadic Quantification ◽  
Negative Quantifiers ◽  
Resource Semantics ◽  
General Semantic

In this paper we develop an HPSG syntax-semantics of negative concord in Romanian. We show that n-words in Romanian can best be treated as negative quantifiers which may combine by resumption to form polyadic negative quantifiers. Optionality of resumption explains the existence of simple sentential negation readings alongside double negation readings. We solve the well-known problem of defining general semantic composition rules for translations of natural language expressions in a logical language with polyadic quantifiers by integrating our higher-order logic in Lexical Resource Semantics, whose constraint-based composition mechanisms directly support a systematic syntax-semantics for negative concord with polyadic quantification.

The Expression of Negation in Sign Languages

2020 ◽  
pp. 176-196
Author(s):  
Josep Quer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
The Core ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Manual Signs ◽  
Clausal Negation

Negation systems in sign languages have been shown to display the core grammatical properties attested for natural language negation. Negative manual signs realize clausal negation in much the same way as in spoken languages. However, the visual-gestural modality affords the possibility to encode negative marking non-manually, and sign languages vary as to whether such markers can convey negation on their own or not. Negative concord can be argued to exist between manual and non-negative markers of negation, but we also find cases of negative concord among manual signs. Negation interacts in interesting ways with other grammatical categories, and it can be encoded in irregular and affixal forms that still have sentential scope. At the same time, negation is attested in lexical morphology leading to forms that do not express sentential negation.

French negation, the Superset Principle, and Feature Conservation

2019 ◽  
pp. 199-227
Author(s):  
Karen De Clercq
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Natural Consequence ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Syntactic Movement ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Over Time

This chapter provides a nanosyntactic account of negation in French, modelling the change from le bon usage French (BUF) to colloquial French (CF). It is argued that language change is driven by Feature Conservation: the lexical items involved in the expression of sentential negation may change over time, but the features needed remain stable. Furthermore, it is argued that the change from BUF to CF is economy-driven, resulting in bigger lexically stored trees, less spell-out-driven movements and a maximal operationalization of the Superset Principle. In addition, the account shows how negative concord and double negation can be explained as a natural consequence of the interplay of the internal structure of lexical trees and the Superset Principle. Finally, the chapter adds to theoretical discussions within nanosyntax by presenting how the interaction between syntactic movement and spell-out-driven movement may be conceived of.

Negative Concord in English

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Blanchette
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Pragmatic Feature ◽  
Insight Into

This paper argues that Negative Concord is generated by the grammars of all English varieties, but just not “realized” in the standardized variety, in the sense of Barbiers (2005, 2009). I show that Double Negation constructions, wherein two negative elements yield a doubly negated meaning, are formed identically by English varieties that realize Negative Concord and those that do not. Unlike previous Minimalist Agree approaches to English Negative Concord, this proposal accounts for the fact that English varieties generate both Double Negation and Negative Concord constructions. This paper employs Tortora’s (2009, in press) mechanism of feature spreading, and López’s (2009) derivational assignment of the pragmatic feature [contrast], to successfully capture the facts of Negative Concord and Double Negation in English. In so doing, it contributes insight into the representation of sentential negation, and supports the Barbiersian notion that not all grammatical structures are realized in a given variety.

Feature reanalysis and the Latin origin of Romance Negative Concord

2021 ◽  
pp. 113-138
Author(s):  
Chiara Gianollo
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Structural Reanalysis ◽  
Negative Marker ◽  
Syntactic Relation

This chapter investigates the sequence of changes leading from the Latin system of negation to the various Romance outcomes. While Classical Latin is a Double Negation language, the earliest Romance varieties show a Negative Concord grammar. In the proposed analysis, this seemingly paradoxical development is explained by situating the prerequisites for Negative Concord already at the Late Latin stage. In Late Latin, a featural and structural reanalysis of the negative marker entails the activation of a projection in the clause where sentential negation has to be identified. This, in turn, triggers the grammaticalization of new negatively marked indefinites licensed in the scope of negation. These indefinites establish a syntactic relation first with the Focus Phrase (as negation strengtheners) and subsequently with the Negation Phrase, yielding a Negative Concord system. This study highlights the importance of generative research on the nature and format of syntactic features for our understanding of diachrony.

scholarly journals Negative inversion, negative concord and sentential negation in the history of English

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILLIP WALLAGE
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Minimalist Framework ◽  
The Way ◽  
English I

It is claimed in van Kemenade (2000: 62) that clauses with initial negative constituents are a context in which subject–verb inversion occurs throughout the history of English. However, different patterns of negative inversion are seen at different periods of English. I argue that changes in the availability of negative inversion reflect changes in the way sentential scope for negation is marked in negative concord constructions. Thus, negative concord involving Middle and Early Modern English not does not co-occur with negative inversion, but negative concord involving Middle English ne does. Changes to negative inversion can be seen to parallel changes in the way sentential scope negation is expressed at successive stages of the Middle English Jespersen Cycle. I propose that the changes to negative inversion and Jespersen's Cycle should both be analysed as changes in the ability of negative items to mark sentential scope for negation. This observation can be formalised within a Minimalist framework as variation in the LF-interpretability of negative features, following the account of Jespersen's Cycle proposed by Wallage (2008).

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