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Postverbal negation
Edited by Olga Krasnoukhova, Johan van der Auwera and Mily Crevels
[Studies in Language 45:3] 2021
► pp. 520–556

On order and prohibition

ORCID logo | Lancaster University

The present article examines the claim in the literature that the negative first principle, i.e. the preference for the order negation-verb to verb-negation, is stronger in negative imperatives (or prohibitives) than in negative declaratives. To test this hypothesis, we develop – in contrast to earlier research – a systematic, three-way classification of languages, which is also operationalized as a ranking capturing the overall level of strength of the principle. This classification is applied to a genealogically and geographically balanced sample of 179 languages. In addition, we consider the role of several factors known to correlate with the position of negation – like its form, constituent order and areality. However, no cross-linguistic evidence is found for any difference in negation’s position between negative imperatives and negative declaratives. We therefore conclude that the hypothesis should be rejected.

Keywords: imperative negation, negative first principle, standard negation, world’s languages
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Objects of study
    • 2.2Sample
    • 2.3Analytical framework
    • 2.4Statistics
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1In general
    • 3.2Reference point
    • 3.3Macro-area
    • 3.4Constituent order
    • 3.5Form
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 6 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.19036.van
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