Sentential Negation Across the Globe. The fine-grained structure of a linguistic universal – SNAG

Negation is a universal property of human language. Every language has a means to negate a sentence. However, languages vary as to how many different forms they have at their disposal to express sentential negative meaning. Whilst there is only one sentential negative marker in English or French to negate all possible tenses, aspects and moods/modalities (He will/did not walk, He has not walked,... ), some languages have special negative markers, i.e.
negative allomorphs, dedicated to particular tenses, aspects and moods/modalities (TAM). In addition to allomorphy in sentential negative markers, many languages also display various kinds of allomorphy in the marking of TAM under the influence of negation. While the latter kind of allomorphy has been thoroughly investigated by Miestamo (2005), the first type of negative allomorphy has not been systematically investigated yet, and neither has the interaction between both types of allomorphy. It is this gap this project sets out to fill. To achieve this, a balanced typological sample of 297 languages will be studied from the perspective of TAM-conditioned negative allomorphy. In addition, the project also aims at providing a cross-modal picture by comparing the results obtained for spoken languages with the results of Zeshan’s (2004, 2013) typological study of negative allomorphy in Sign Languages. The output of the project will be mapped, so as to visualise the distribution and different types of negation across the world. Theoretically, the project will enhance our understanding of the morphosyntactic properties of negation, and thus also of human cognition, since negation, as a linguistic universal, provides us with a unique window onto the human mind.