Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton September 1, 2020

A cross-linguistic study of expletive negation

  • Yanwei Jin EMAIL logo and Jean-Pierre Koenig
From the journal Linguistic Typology

Abstract

This paper provides a typological overview of expletive negation based on a survey of 722 languages, focusing in detail on a smaller sample of five languages. Expletive negation (EN) has been discussed extensively within Romance linguistics. This paper surveys its occurrence across languages of the world and offers a comprehensive list of EN-triggering contexts collected from French and Mandarin, comparing that list with EN triggers in Januubi, English, and Zarma-Sonrai. The paper proposes a language production and semantic account of the similarity of EN-triggering contexts found in these five languages. We propose that the meaning of EN triggers entails or strongly implies ¬p and that the activation of ¬p alongside p is what leads speakers to produce EN. Four semantic licensing conditions for EN triggers are identified and each EN-triggering context is semantically analyzed.


Corresponding author: Yanwei Jin[jɛn.wei̯; t͡ɕin], Department of Linguistics, University at Buffalo, 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260-6420, USA, E-mail:

Abbreviations in glosses
ART

article

BA

BA marker

CLF

classifier

COMP

complementizer

COND

conditional

DAT

dative

DET

determiner

EM

emotional

EMPH

emphatic

DIR

directional

IMP

imperative

INDF

indefinite

INF

infinitive

IPFV

imperfective

LD

locative-directional

MOD

modality marker

NF

non-finite

NEG

negation

NOM

nominative

NSP

non-specific

PFV

perfective

PL

plural

PN

proper noun

POSS

possessive

PRS

present

PST

past

PTCP

participle

REFL

reflexive

SBJV

subjunctive

SG

singular

TOP

topic

References

Abels, Klaus. 2005. “Expletive negation” in Russian: A conspiracy theory. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 13(1). 5–74.Search in Google Scholar

Bordería, Salvador Pons. & Scott A. Schwenter. 2005. Polar meaning and “expletive” negation in approximative adverbs: Spanish por poco (no). Journal of Historical Pragmatics 6. 262–282. https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.6.2.06pon.Search in Google Scholar

Bourcier, Danièle & Oswald Ducrot. 1980. Les mots du discours. Paris: Les éditions de minuit.Search in Google Scholar

Brocher, Andreas, Jean-Pierre Koenig, Gail Mauner & Stephani Foraker. 2018. About sharing and commitment: The retrieval of biased and balanced irregular polysemes. Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience 33(4). 443–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2017.1381748.Search in Google Scholar

Cao, Jingyi. 2007. Xiànyú fǒudìng de yǔyòng rènzhī fēnxī [A cognitive and pragmatic analysis of redundant negation]. MA thesis. Beijing: Capital Normal University.Search in Google Scholar

Carlin, Eithne. 2004. A grammar of Trio: A Cariban language of Suriname. Texas: P. Lang.Search in Google Scholar

CCL (Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU). 2019. http://ccl.pku.edu.cn:8080/ccl_corpus/index.jsp?dir=xiandai.Search in Google Scholar

Che, Lubin. 2016. Xiàndài hànyǔ xiànyú fǒudìng gòushì yánjiū [A study of constructions of redundant negation in modern Chinese]. Beijing: China Social Science Press.Search in Google Scholar

Damourette, Jacques & Edouard Pichon. 1911-1940. Des mots à la pensée. Paris: D’Artrey.Search in Google Scholar

Del Prete, Fabio. 2008. A non-uniform semantic analysis of the Italian temporal connectives prima and dopo. Natural Language Semantics 16(2). 157–203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-008-9030-6.Search in Google Scholar

Dell, Gary S. 1986. A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review 93(3). 283–321. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.93.3.283.Search in Google Scholar

Dindelegan, Gabriela Panã. 2013. The grammar of Romanian. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Dobrushina, Nina. Forthcoming. Negation in the complement clauses of fear-verbs. Functions of language.10.1075/fol.18056.dobSearch in Google Scholar

Dryer, Matthew Synge. 1989. Large linguistic areas and language sampling. Studies in Language 13(2). 257–292. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.13.2.03dry.Search in Google Scholar

Enfield, Nicholas J. 2008. A grammar of Lao. New York & Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110207538Search in Google Scholar

Espinal, Maria Teresa. 1992. Expletive negation and logical absorption. The Linguistic Review 9(4). 333–358. https://doi.org/10.1515/tlir.1992.9.4.333.Search in Google Scholar

Espinal, Maria Teresa. 2000. Expletive negation, negative concord and feature checking. Catalan Working Papers in Linguistics 8. 47–69.Search in Google Scholar

Grevisse, Maurice. 2007. Le bon usage, 1st edition, 1936. Gembloux: Duculot.Search in Google Scholar

Hamblin, Charles L. 1973. Questions in Montague English. Foundations of Language 10. 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1180/claymin.1973.010.2.04.Search in Google Scholar

Heim, Irene. 1992. Presupposition projection and the semantics of attitude verbs. Journal of Semantics 9. 183–221. https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/9.3.183.Search in Google Scholar

Horn, Laurence Robert. 2010. Multiple negation in English and other languages. In Laurence Robert Horn (ed.), The expression of negation, 111–148. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110219302.111Search in Google Scholar

Huddleston, Rodney D. & Geoffrey K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781316423530Search in Google Scholar

Inkova, Olga. 2006. La négation explétive: un regard d’ailleurs. Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure 59. 107–129.Search in Google Scholar

Jespersen, Otto. 1917. Negation in English and other languages. Copenhagen: B. Luno.Search in Google Scholar

Jiang, Lansheng. 2008. Gàiniàn diéjiā yǔ gòushì zhěnghé—kěndìng fǒudìng búduìchèng de jiégòu [Semantic accumulation and constructional integration: An explanation on the asymmetry between affirmation and negation]. Zhōngguó Yǔwén 327. 5–19.Search in Google Scholar

Koenig, Jean-Pierre & Anthony R. Davis. 2001. Sublexical modality and the structure of lexical semantic representations. Linguistics and Philosophy 24(1). 71–124. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1005616002948.10.1023/A:1005616002948Search in Google Scholar

Konnerth, Linda. 2014. A grammar of Karbi. Eugene: University of Oregon dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Langacker, Ronald W. 1987. Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites. California: Stanford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Langacker, Ronald W. 2008. Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331967.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Larrivée, Pierre. 1996. Pas explétif. Revue Romane 31. 19–28.Search in Google Scholar

Larrivée, Pierre. 2004. L’association négative: depuis la syntaxe jusqu’à l’interprétation. Geneva: Librairie Droz.Search in Google Scholar

Le Bidois, Georges & Robert Le Bidois. 1935-1938. Syntaxe du français moderne. Paris: A Picard.Search in Google Scholar

Lefebvre, Claire & Anne-Marie Brousseau. 2011. A grammar of Fongbe. New York & Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Lü, Shuxiang. 1985. Yíwèn, kěndìng, fǒudìng [Questions, affirmation, and negation]. Zhōngguó yǔwén 182. 245–248.Search in Google Scholar

Makri, Maria-Margarita. 2013. Expletive negation beyond Romance. MA thesis: University of York.Search in Google Scholar

Martin, Robert. 1984. Pour une approche sémantico-logique du ne dit explétif. Revue de linguistique romane 48. 99–121.Search in Google Scholar

Matras, Yaron. 2012. A grammar of Domari. New York & Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110291421Search in Google Scholar

Meng, Zong. 1999. Hànyǔ dòngcí yòngfǎ cídiǎn [Mandarin verbal usage dictionary]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Search in Google Scholar

Molina, Jesús F. Vásquez. 2006. La negación expletiva en francés. Spain: Logroño.Search in Google Scholar

Mosel, Ulrike & Even Hovdhaugen. 1992. Samoan reference grammar. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Muller, Claude. 1991. La négation en français. Geneva: Librairie Droz.Search in Google Scholar

Perez, João Andrade. 2013. Negação. In Eduardo Buzaglo Paiva Raposo, Maria Fernanda Bacelar do Nascimento, Maria Antónia Coelho da Mota, Luísa Seguro & Amália Mendes (eds.), Gramática do Português, vol. I, 461–498. Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.Search in Google Scholar

Pratt, George. 1893. Pratt’s grammar and dictionary Samoan-English English-Samoan. London: The London Missionary Society.Search in Google Scholar

Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech & Jan, Svartvik. 1985. A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.Search in Google Scholar

Real Academia Espan͂ola. 2009. Nueva grammática de la lengua espan͂ola: Sintaxis II. Spain: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Espan͂ola.Search in Google Scholar

Renzi, Lorenzo, Giampaolo Salvi & Anna, Cardinaletti (eds.). 2001. Grande Grammatica Italiana di Consultazione. Bologna: Il Mulino.Search in Google Scholar

Rijkhoff, Jan, Dik Bakker, Kees Hengeveld & Peter Kahrel. 1993. A method of language sampling. Studies in Language 17(1). 169–203. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.17.1.07rij.Search in Google Scholar

Romalo, Valeria Guţu. 2005. Gramatica Limbii Române. Bucures'ti: Editura Academiei Române.Search in Google Scholar

Rubinstein, Ayanat, Ivy Sichel & Avigail Tsirkin-Sadan. 2015. Superfluous negation in modern Hebrew and its origins. Journal of Jewish Languages 3. 165–182. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-12340047.Search in Google Scholar

Searle, John. 1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge University Press. 87. 435–437.10.1017/CBO9781139173438Search in Google Scholar

Smeets, Ineke. 2008. A grammar of Mapuche. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 1988. Force dynamics in language and cognition. Cognitive Science 12. 49–100. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1201_2.Search in Google Scholar

Teng, Stacy. 2008. A reference grammar of Puyuma, an Austronesian language of Taiwan. Canberra: Australian National University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Thompson, Sandra, Robert Longacre & Shin Ja J. Hwang. 2007. Adverbial clauses. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, 237–300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511619434.005Search in Google Scholar

Van der Wouden. 1994. Polarity and ‘Illogical Negation’. In Makoto Kanazawa & Christopher J. Pin͂ón (eds.), Dynamics, polarity, and quantification, 17–48. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Search in Google Scholar

Van der Wurff, Wim. 1999. On expletive negation with adversative predicates in the history of English. In Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Gunnel Tottie & Wim van der Wurff (eds.), Negation in the history of English, 295–328. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110806052.295Search in Google Scholar

Wang, Zhiying. 2012. Xiàndài hànyǔ tèshū fǒudìng xiànxiàng rènzhī yánjiū [A cognitive analysis of special negation in modern Chinese]. PhD Dissertation: Shanghai Normal University.Search in Google Scholar

Yoon, Suwon. 2011. “Not” in the Mood: The syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of evaluative negation. PhD Dissertation: The University of Chicago.Search in Google Scholar

Yoon, Suwon. 2013. Parametric variation in subordinate evaluative negation: Korean/Japanese versus others. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 22(2). 133–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-012-9100-0.Search in Google Scholar

Yuan, Yulin. 2012. Dòngcí nèi yǐn xìng fǒudìng de yǔyì céngcì hé yìchū tiáojiàn [On the semantic levels and overflow conditions of the implicit negative verbs in Chinese]. Zhōngguó yǔwén 437. 99–113.Search in Google Scholar

Zhang, Yisheng. 2004. Xiàndài hànyǔ fùcí tànjiū [A study of modern Chinese adverbs]. Shanghai: Xuelin Press.Search in Google Scholar

Zhu, Dexi. 1959. Shuō chà-yīdiǎn [A discussion of miss-a-bit]. Zhōngguó yǔwén 87. 435–437.Search in Google Scholar

Zovko Dinković, Irena & Gašper Ilc. 2017. Pleonastic negation from a cross-linguistic perspective. Jezikoslovlje 18 (1). 159–180.Search in Google Scholar

Zuo, Baiyao. 2018. L’analyse sur la négation explétive en Chinois-Mandarin à travers sa comparaison avec le français. Asiatische Studien-Études Asiatiques 72(1). 117–135. https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2016-0051.Search in Google Scholar

Supplementary Material

Supplementary material to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1515/lingty.2020-2053.

Published Online: 2020-09-01
Published in Print: 2021-05-26

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 23.4.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingty-2020-2053/html
Scroll to top button