Phase V languages
5.5 Phase V languages
In chapter 4 I have shown that every Dutch variety that exhibits a preverbal negative maker is an NC language. In this chapter it has been shown that this generalisation also holds for all other languages that have been investigated in this study. In chapter
4 I have also argued that the relation between the availability of a preverbal negative marker and the occurrence of NC is uni-directional, i.e. not every language that lacks
a preverbal negative marker is a DN language. In this section I will show that this generalisation is not restricted to Dutch either: German, Norwegian and Swedish express sentential negation by means of a single negative adverb and these languages are DN languages; Quebecois, Bavarian and Yiddish on the other hand are languages which exhibit NC behaviour.
5.5.1 German, Swedish, Norwegian
Phase V languages such as German, Norwegian and Swedish express sentential negation by means of a negative adverb only, as is shown (85)-(87).
191 The sentence (*Ne )regarde moi pas ‘Neg watch me neg’ is well-formed in colloquial French. However, this does not violate the conclusion, since ne is not optionally absent in this example. This
sentence will be discussed in chapter 6. 192 Data are from Rowlett (1998). In chapter 6.1 I will discuss these examples extensively.
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(85) Hans kommt nicht German Hans comes neg ‘Hans doesn’t come’
(86) Ole går ikke Norwegian Ole walks neg ‘Ole doesn’t come’
(87) Hon har inte skrivit Swedish She has neg written ‘She hasn’t written’
These languages are all DN languages, i.e. every two negative elements yield a DN reading. This holds both for cases in which a negative quantifier 193 follows and for
cases in which the negative quantifier precedes the negative marker.
(88) a. Hans sieht nicht Nichts 194 German Hans sees neg n-thing
‘Hans doesn’t see nothing’
b. … dass Niemand heute nicht kommt … that n-body today neg comes ‘… that nobody doesn’t come today’
(89) a. Ole sier ikke ingenting Norwegian Ole says neg n-thing ‘Ole doesn’t say nothing’
b. Ingen går ikke N-body walks neg ‘Nobody walks’
(90) a. Sven har inte skrivit ingenting Swedish Sven has neg written n-thing ‘Sven didn’t write nothing’
b. Ingen har inte skrivit N-body has neg written ‘Nobody hasn’t written’
PN is also forbidden in these languages. If a negative element occurs in a position in which it is the complement of a negatively connotated element, it remains semantically negative.
193 Since every negative element introduces a semantic negation in these languages, the term n-word does not apply anymore.
194 Some varieties of German allow for EN constructions (see chapter 3.3.4).
140 S ENTENTIAL N EGATION AND N EGATIVE C ONCORD
(91) Ohne Nichts German Without n-thing ‘Without nothing’
(92) Uten ingenting Norwegian Without n-thing ‘Without nothing’
(93) Utan ingenting Swedish Without n-thing ‘Without nothing’
All these DN languages allow true negative imperatives. The ban on true negative imperatives appears to be related to the fact that the negative marker is a preverbal negative element.
(94) a. Mache es! German Do it ‘Do it’
b. Mache es nicht! Do it neg ‘Don’t do it!’
(95) a. Kom! Norwegian Come ‘Come’
b. Kom ikke Come neg ‘Don’t come!’
(96) a. Kom! Swedish Come ‘Come’
b. Kom inte Come neg ‘Don’t come!’
Standard German is ambiguous with respect to the interpretation of sentences in which an ∀-subject precedes the negative marker. It allows inverse readings of negative expressions in which an ∀-subject precedes the negative marker and readings in which the subject scopes over negation. The inverse readings are however the preferred ones. Norwegian and Swedish yield only the inverse reading. Standard Dutch, which allows the ∀> ¬ reading only, differs with respect to the other DN languages with respect to the interpretation of this construction.
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(97) Jeder kommt nicht German Everybody comes neg ‘Not everybody comes’
? ‘Nobody comes’
(98) Alle kommer ikke Norwegian Everybody comes neg ‘Not everybody comes’
(99) Alle kommer inte Swedish Everybody comes neg ‘Not everybody comes’
To conclude, the facts described in this subsection confirm the (uni-directional) generalisations that have been formulated so far. The absence of the preverbal negative marker allows these languages to be DN languages. Moreover, due to the absence of the negative marker, these languages do not ban true negative imperatives. Finally the generalisation that Phase V languages vary with respect to the interpretation of sentences as in (97) is confirmed: German, Norwegian and Swedish allow inverse readings, whereas Standard Dutch does not.
5.5.2 Quebecois, Bavarian, Yiddish
Similar to what has been found in the Dutch language-internal variation, other Phase
V languages exhibit NC rather than DN. Three examples are given in this subsection: Quebecois, Bavarian and Yiddish. These languages express sentential negation by means of a single negative adverbial marker (100)-(102).
(100) Il parle pas de toi Quebecois He speaks neg of you ‘He doesn’t speak about you’
(101) S’Maral woid an Hans ned hairadn 195 Bavarian The.Maral wants to Hans neg marry
‘Maral doesn’t want to marry Hans’
(102) Yankl vil nit khasene hobn mit a norveger 196 Yiddish Yankl wants neg marry with a Norwegian
‘Yankl doesn’t want to marry a Norwegian’
These languages are all Strict NC readings as n-words may occur to both the left and the right of the negative adverb. These languages also exhibit PN.
195 Example taken from Weiss (2002). 196 Example is from Ellen Prince (p.c.).
142 S ENTENTIAL N EGATION AND N EGATIVE C ONCORD
(103) a. Je juge pas personne Quebecois
I judge neg n-body ‘I don’t judge anybody’
b. Il y a pas personne en ville He is there neg n-body in town ‘There is nobody in town’
c. Personne est pas capable de parler français à Montréal? N-body is neg capable of speak French in Monréal ‘Is nobody able to speak French in Montréal?’
(104) a. Gestan han’e neamd ned gseng Bavarian Yesterday have.I n-body neg seen ‘Yesterday I didn’t see anybody’
197 b. … daβ’ma koana ned furtgehd … that.me n-body neg leaves
‘… that nobody is leaving’
(105) a. Ikh hob nit gezen keyn moyz Yiddish
I have beg seen n- mice ‘I haven’t seen any mice’ 198 b. Keiner efnt nit mayn tir
‘Nobody opens neg my door’ ‘Nobody opens my door’
Similar to all other NC languages discussed in this chapter Quebecois, Bavarian and Yiddish also exhibit PN, as is shown in (106)-(108).
(106) Sans rien Quebecois Without n-thing ‘Without anything’
(107) Ohne nix Bavarian Without n-thing ‘Without anything’
(108) On gornit Yiddish Without n-thing ‘Without anything’
197 For independent reasons, subjects always occur to the left of the canonical position of the negative adverb in Bavarian.
198 Yiddish does not allow subjects to occur in a position to the right of the canonical position of the negative adverb for independent reasons.
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In these languages there is no ban on true negative imperatives either. Quebecois differs from other varieties of French with respect to the position of clitics in imperatives. In Standard French clitics occur to the right of the verb in positive imperatives and to the left of the verb in negative imperatives (109).
(109) a. Fais le! Standard French Do it ‘Do it’
b. Ne le fais pas! Neg it do neg ‘Don’t do it’
In Quebecois, clitics occur in postverbal position in both positive and negative imperatives. Consequently I assume that true negative imperatives are allowed in Quebecois (110).
(110) a. Vas-y! Quebecois Go-there ‘Go there’
b. Vas-y pas! Go-there neg ‘Don’t go there’
The examples in (111)-(112) illustrate that true negative imperatives are also allowed in Bavarian and Yiddish.
(111) a. Geh grad so fort Bavarian Go straight PRT away ‘Leave straight away’
b. Geh ned grad so fort! Go neg straight PRT away ‘Don’t leave straight away’
(112) a. Kuk! Yiddish Look ‘Look!’
b. Kuk nit Look neg ‘Don’t look’
Finally, Quebecois and Bavarian allow inverse readings of negative sentences in which the subject is a universal quantifier. 199
199 The results of the Yiddish investigation to the grammaticality of these sentences were not clear enough to present them in this section.
144 S ENTENTIAL N EGATION AND N EGATIVE C ONCORD
(113) Tout le monde est pas expert Quebecois Everybody is neg expert ‘Not everybody is an expert’
(114) Jeder ist ned so oft on-line Bavarian Everybody is neg that often on-line ‘Not everybody is on-line that often’
Hence all generalisations hold: Phase V languages can be divided in NC and DN languages. If an ∀-subject precedes the negative marker, an inverse reading is yielded
in which negation outscopes the subject. Being Strict NC languages, the fact that Quebecois, Bavarian and Yiddish do not ban true negative imperatives is in line with the generalisations.