Matti Miestamo

Negation – An Overview of Typological Research

This article is an overview of the current state of typological research on negation. Structures expressing standard negation – the negation of declarative verbal main clauses – can be classified on the basis of the status of the negative marker, or on the basis of the structure of the negative clause as a whole. Structural similarities and differences (symmetry and asymmetry) between negatives and affirmatives can be observed and classified into different types which can then be offered functional explanations. Negative strategies used in imperatives, existentials and nonverbal clauses often differ from standard negation; these differences are exemplified and discussed. The interaction between negative indefinite pronouns and standard negation shows interesting cross-linguistic variation in terms of whether the latter co-occurs with the indefinite and whether the indefinite is inherently negative. Some cross-linguistic observations on diachronic developments and on the interaction between negation and modality and negation and focus are also briefly discussed.

Towards a typology of standard negation

Standard negation is the basic sentential negation in a language. This article proposes a typology of standard negation that takes into account the whole negative construction and allows explanation of different negation types by different semantico-pragmatic background phenomena. There is semantic and pragmatic asymmetry between affirmation and negation, and this asymmetry is manifested in different ways in the morphosyntax of negative constructions. The primary division in the classification is between symmetric and asymmetric negation. The asymmetric type can be divided into subtypes according to which aspects of the semantico-pragmatic asymmetry are grammaticalized in the negative constructions. Symmetric and asymmetric negative constructions are analogous to the affirmative structure and to the background semantics and pragmatics of negation, respectively

New Challenges in Typology: Broadening the Horizons and Redefining the Foundations

The book presents up-to-date theoretical and methodological findings by gifted typologists and field linguists. The authors address selected theoretical questions of general linguistic relevance drawing from a wealth of data hitherto unfamiliar to the general linguistic audience. The grammatical phenomena covered range from phonology to the syntax of complex sentences.

Partitives and negation : A cross-linguistic survey

The partitive of negation, i.e. partitive marking of NPs under the scope of negation, is known to be found in some European languages, namely Finnic, Baltic, Slavic and Basque. Based on an extensive and representative language sample, this typological study surveys the cross-linguistic distribution of the partitive of negation and other asymmetries between affirmatives and negatives in the marking of noun phrases. Instances of the partitive of negation realized as part of a case marking system are not found outside the European languages mentioned. Nonetheless, negation is found to affect the use of articles and other determiners, e.g., in Polynesian languages and in French, as well as the use of class markers, e.g., in some Bantu languages, in which the class markers in question actually function as determiners. Effects on focus marking and alignment are also observed in some languages. There is a pragmatically motivated tendency for an indefinite noun phrase to have a non-referential reading under the scope of negation. The grammatical effects of negation on the use of articles and determiners, including class markers, result in marking the noun phrases as non-referential and are thus motivated by the connection between negation and non-referentiality. It is further argued that partitives, too, contribute to marking noun phrases as non-referential, and the partitive of negation can thus be seen as arising from similar motivations.

Negatives without negators

Well-known instances of this so-called Zero Negative construction are found in some Dravidian languages in which negation can be signaled by the mere absence of tense marking without an overt marker of negation. In this paper, I take a look at this rare type of negative construction from a typological perspective. Section 2 briefly introduces the Dravidian Zero Negative construction. Section 3 discusses the phenomenon in a cross-linguistic perspective, suggesting possible typological parallels to the absence of tense and negation markers. Section 4 addresses the possibility of ellipsis of negators in languages in which these are usually present in the negative construction. Section 5 first discusses whether and how the absence of tense and negation markers is functionally motivated and examines then the implications of negatives without negators to the markedness of negation vis-a-vis affirmation. Section 6 offers a brief conclusion.

Sampling for variety

Abstract Variety sampling aims at capturing as much of the world’s linguistic variety as possible. The article discusses and compares two sampling methods designed for variety sampling: the Diversity Value method, in which sample languages are picked according to the diversity found in family trees, and the Genus-Macroarea method, in which genealogical stratification is primarily based on genera and areal stratification pays attention to the proportional representation of the genealogical diversity of macroareas. The pros and cons of the methods are discussed, some additional features are introduced to the Genus-Macroarea method, and the ability of both methods to capture crosslinguistic variety is tested with computerized simulations drawing on data in The world atlas of language structures database.

Linguistic diversity and complexity

This paper provides an overview of the research done on language complexity, focusing on aspects of complexity that bear relevance to the topic of linguistic diversity. Different approaches to and possible definitions of complexity are first discussed. The diversity and variation that languages show in structural complexity is then addressed, and the equicomplexity hypothesis predicting that all languages are equally complex is critically evaluated with respect to attempts to measure global complexity empirically. The effects of diverse sociolinguistic factors on complexity is an active field of enquiry and a review of this discussion is provided. The relationship between culture and complexity is touched upon and, finally, complexity is discussed from the point of view of areal and genealogical diversity.