Expletive Negation is widespread in human languages. Although many semantic, pragmatic and syntactic hypotheses about it have been advanced, it still remains puzzling. Two questions, particularly, ...need to be faced: (i) what are the contexts, mainly syntactic, where negation receives its vacuous interpretation? (ii) Is EN a phenomenon grammatically distinct from standard negation or are they the same one? In this article I will provide empirical and theoretical arguments to show that EN derives from a particular syntactic configuration by investigating a case of Italian EN, i.e. Surprise Negation Sentences. More specifically, I will propose that the Italian negative marker “
non
” (“not”) has a twofold interpretation encoded in syntax: (i) when it is merged in the TP-area during the v*P-phase, it gives the standard negative interpretation reversing the truth-value conditions of a sentence; (ii) when it is merged in the CP domain and the v*P-phase is already closed, it gives the expletive interpretation shown in Snegs. From this point of view, the expletive reading of negation is just a reflex of the syntactic context in which negation is introduced.
This paper deals with the Italian presuppositional negation marker mica. This particle can surface differently in the negative circuit, e.g. either in a clause-initial or a clause-internal position. ...However, depending on its position, different types of focus and pragmatic requirements are found. We consider the initial mica as an instance of corrective focus and the clause-internal one as encoding a more generic contrastive focus. We show that this is in line with the recent findings on focus typology of Italian.
This paper examines Negative Imperfect Verb Form in Kanuri text within the framework of descriptive linguistics adopting the works of Cyffer (2009) model of approach in analyzing negation types in ...Kanuri. In conducting the research, both sources of data collection were employed: the primary source includes a Kanuri written text Nyariwa Kanuribe, where all the various place where the Negations negating the imperfective verb occurred where underlined and extracted from the text for data presentation and analysis. The study also employed the secondary source of data collection where three linguists from the Kanuri section of the department of languages and Linguistics University of Maiduguri, Nigeria were engaged to validate the data collected from the text. The outcome of the study reveals that there are two particle used in negating the imperfective verbs form in the text and study identified these particles are ba and bawo are bound morpheme negating imperfective verbs form in Kanuri. Finally the study identified eighty one instances of the two negation particle with their number of occurrences and their percentages in the text analyzed.
AbstractIranian deaf people use sign language in their interactions. It is a natural language with its own grammar independent from language itself. The purpose of this research was to investigate ...the construction of negation in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety). The research method was taken from the cross-linguistic researches done by Zashen et al. (2004 & 2006), which were conducted on 38 sign languages. 7 profound deaf adults that were fluent in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety) were selected by using a purposive sampling method. An interpreter and a sign language consultant were present at all stages of the research. To collect the data, video recording and observation of the signers’ language behaviors during the presentation of linguistic stimuli, as well as targeted observation of some films in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety), were done. The data were entered into the ELAN software program for analysis. The data analysis showed that in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety), negation marking could be seen in different forms both manually and non-manually. Non-manual negation was not mandatory and could include the whole clause (minus any topicalised constituents) or part/parts of a clause. The basic negators of the clause (manual negative particle) were NOT, NO, NONE, NEVER, and NOT-EXIST. A lot of negation cliticisation were observed.Keywords: Sign Language, Iranian Sign Language (Tehrani Variety), Negation, Deaf People, Negative Particle, Manual Negation, Non-Manual Negation Introduction Iranian deaf people use sign language in their interactions. It is a natural language with its own grammar independent from language itself. Unfortunately, there are not enough documents about the history of sign language in Iran. This sign language was called "Farsi sign language" in the not-so-distant past, but it seemed that "Iranian sign language" was currently used more by the deaf community of Iran. Recently, Gitti (2022) has introduced the word "Asharani" to the Iranian deaf community. The purpose of this study was to investigate the construction of negation in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety). Materials and Method This research was descriptive from the perspective of data analysis and qualitative dealing with a case study. The outline of this research was taken from the cross-linguistic researches done by Zashen and her colleagues (2004 & 2006). These researches were conducted about sign languages around the world at the Max Planck Institute in the Netherlands.The participants of this research, who were selected based on the purposeful sampling method, included 7 congenitally profoundly deaf adults (4 women and 3 men) living in Tehran, who had hearing aids and were in the age range of 35-40 years. Except for 1 person, who was a student, the rest of them were working. All of them were literate with a diploma to Ph.D. students in linguistics, had been exposed to sign language from an early age, and daily used Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety) in the family and different social environments. All of these subjects had the ability to understand the spoken Persian language and express it in writing. A translator was present in all stages of data collection. An Iranian sign language researcher worked as a consultant in this research. The main method of data collection in this research was "observation". To collect the data, first, video recording and observation of the signers’ linguistic behaviors were done during presenting the linguistic stimuli (a list of linguistic forms in the form of sentences, words, and pictures). Also, a targeted observation of videos in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety) that could be found in virtual social media, such as Telegram and Instagram, was carried out to obtain more spontaneous data. In total, about 354 minutes of videos showing Iranian Sign Language (Tehrani variety) were obtained for analysis. Then, the data were entered into the ELAN software program for more detailed description, interpretation, and analysis. Discussion of Results and Conclusion The research data showed that in Iranian sign language (Tehrani variety), negation marking could be seen in different forms both manually and non-manually. Non-manual negation was not mandatory in Iranian sign language and could include the whole clause (minus any topicalised constituents) or part/parts of a clause. Specific rules that indicated when non-manual negation had to be used alongside manual negation were not observed in this research, except when negating the emphasizing that non-manual negation acted as an integral part of manual negation and played the role of strengthening negation of a negative sentence or showed a special case by moving the head as a sign of negation and giving a simple negative answer of one word while negation alone was enough. Negation was done at the level of a clause (sentence) via manual negative gestures. These main negative clauses were NOT, NO, NONE, NEVER, and NOT-EXIST. The negators were all placed at the end of the clause after the predicate (S-O-V (Neg)), except in cases where they replaced the negative verb at the end of the clause to cause its negation. On the other hand, it was observed that the negation morpheme together with the predicate sign could create a structure, in which the negation morpheme always occurred after the predicate. Hence, the negation morpheme could be an affix or a clitic. According to the research data, the frequency of negation cliticisation was high in the Iranian sign language, while the main negator of the clause including NOT could be often cliticisating according to the previous sign. Other types of irregular negations (simultaneous negation and negative suppletion) could be also seen in this sign language with less frequency.This research was able to describe and document part of the grammar used by Iranian deaf people, who lived in Tehran, along with the few linguistic researches on Iranian sign language, and validate its naturalness and grammar (in Negation category). It seems that strengthening of sign language linguistics and subsequently the practical dimensions of such researches for language planning, compilation of textbooks and sign language teaching, implementation of linguistic research, and presentation or explanation of linguistic theories, etc. is of particular importance.
The aim of this paper is to investigate experimentally the mismatches in the interpretation of Mandarin Chinese (MC) argumental negative expressions (namely, méi(yǒu)rén ‘no one’ and méi(yǒu)shénme ...‘nothing’) when they are used as fragment answers to negative wh-questions. The acoustic correlates that characterize these fragment answers are identified when they convey not only double negation (DN) but also SN meanings. An analysis of the results of a production experiment supports the conclusion that DN is prosodically marked in MC, and that in this language DN and SN readings display significantly different acoustic correlates in speech production. More specifically, DN readings show shorter duration, more pitch variation, higher maximum pitch, and larger rising pitch excursion. The results of an audio perception experiment further show that native speakers of MC perceive these prosodic correlates and reliably use them to distinguish between DN and SN readings of argumental negative expressions used as fragment answers.
•Fragment negative expressions in Mandarin Chinese show mismatches in interpretation.•Negative sentences with multiple negative elements are marked.•Double Negation for méi(yǒu)rén and méi(yǒu)shénme is prosodically marked.•Mandarin speakers discriminate between DN and SN prosody in production and in perception.
Negation plays an essential role in sentiment analysis within natural language processing (NLP). Its integration involves two key aspects: identifying the scope of negation and incorporating this ...information into the sentiment model. Before delving into scope detection, the specific negation cue must be identified, with explicit and implicit negation cues being the two main types. Various methodologies, such as rule-based, machine learning, and hybrid approaches, address the negation scope detection challenge. Strategies for leveraging negation information in sentiment models encompass heuristic polarity modification, feature space augmentation, end-to-end approach, and hierarchical multi-task learning. Notably, there is a need for more studies addressing implicit negation cue detection, even within the state-of-the-art bidirectional encoder representation for transformers (BERT) approach. Some studies have employed reinforcement learning and hybrid techniques to address the implicit negation problem. Further exploration, particularly through a hybrid and multi-task learning approach, is warranted to make potential contributions to the nuanced challenges of handling negation in sentiment analysis, especially in complex sentence structures.
Feminist thought challenges essentialist and normative categorizations of ‘work’. Therefore, feminism provides a critical lens on ‘working space’ as a theoretical and empirical focus for digital ...geographies. Digital technologies extend and intensify working activity, rendering the boundaries of the workplace emergent. Such emergence heightens the ambivalence of working experience: the possibilities for affirmation and/or negation through work. A digital geography is put forward through feminist theorizations of the ambivalence of intimacy. The emergent properties of working with digital technologies create space through the intimacies of postwork places where bodies and machines feel the possibilities of being ‘at’ work.
The processing of negation is typically regarded as one of the most demanding cognitive processes as it often involves the reversal of input information. As negation is also regarded as a core ...linguistic process, to date, investigations of negation have typically been linguistic in nature. However, negation is a standard operator also within non-linguistic domains. For example, traffic signs often use negation to indicate a prohibition of specific actions (e.g., no left turn). In the current study, we investigate whether processing difficulties that are typically reported within the linguistic domain generalize to pictorial negation. Across two experiments, linguistic negation and pictorial negation were directly compared to their affirmative counterparts. In line with the literature, the results show that there is a general processing benefit for pictorial input. Most interestingly, the core process of negation also benefits from the pictorial input. Specifically, the processing difficulty in pictorial negation compared to affirmation is less pronounced than within the linguistic domain, especially concerning error rates. In the current experiments, pictorial negation did not result in increased error rates compared to the affirmative condition. Overall, the current results suggest that negation in pictorial conditions also results in a slowing of information processing. However, the use of pictorial negation can ease processing difficulty over linguistic negation.
•Investigation whether specific cognitive processes benefit from specific formats•Investigation of negation across linguistic and pictorial input format•Linguistic and pictorial negation are difficult to process.•Pictorial negation less error prone than a linguistic negation•Ironic effects of negation less pronounced for pictorial input
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