Semantic and pragmatic effectsof negative markers

This chapter focuses on the semantic and pragmatic effects associated with the various positions of negation. Particularly, presuppositional readings for negative statements follow from different structural positions of negation (higher in the TP) as opposed to the non-presuppositional interpretations associated with the lower NegP below TP. This chapter also analyses contrasts between SA maa on the one hand and laa and its variants on the other hand. These contrasts are related to scope readings, presupposition, mood and speech acts (commissive, directive, volitive, and (ir)realis). I argue that presuppositional negation is a product of the interplay between syntax and pragmatics. Specifically, I propose that presuppositional negative markers are higher in the syntactic structure. They occupy a position above the tense phrase in the clausal structure, namely NegP above TP (cf. Zanuttini 1997 for similar effects in various Romance). Pragmatically marked negation includes presuppositional negation, categorical negation and cleft-negation. The former two are in a NegP above TP, while the latter is in CP.

Issues in the syntax of sentential negation

The three major categories of negative markers found in Southern Levantine, Gulf and Standard Arabic are single negation, bipartite negation and enclitic negation. This chapter introduces these three categories in a descriptive manner, making minimal theoretical reference only when necessary. The distinctions made between these categories are relevant to the organization of the book and its discussion of empirical and theoretical issues. Contrasts in the distribution of these negative markers among the three varieties of Arabic under investigation in this book clearly show that negation in Arabic can occupy various syntactic positions, but that there are word order restrictions that regulate these occurrences. The chapter also introduces the Jespersen Cycle of negation in Arabic.

Distribution of the negation strategies

This chapter explores the explanatory power of the multi-locus analysis of negation in accounting for the distributional contrasts between two negation strategies in JA and Egyptian Arabic. These two strategies are the use of discontinuous negation ma…š and non-discontinuous negation miš. The distribution of these strategies follows from analysing bipartite negation as a low negation occupying a position below TP. Following Benmamoun (2000), the analysis assumes that discontinuous negation is a result of predicate merger with negation via predicate head movement to the negative head for feature checking. The chapter argues that the Person feature of the predicate causes this movement, and departs from Benmamoun’s (2000) idea that with non-discontinuous negation, the subject NP fulfills the checking requirement of the negative head. Instead, the chapter argues that a covert copular head fulfills the checking requirement as a last-resort mechanism when the predicate lacks the person feature. The chapter also argues that Egyptian Arabic does not have this checking requirement and that, aside from with perfective verbs, predicate merger with negation is an optional post-syntactic operation. Assuming that perfective verbs undergo V-to-T movement (Benmamoun 2000; Soltan 2007), the obligatory merger between perfective verbs and negation is due to minimality constraints.

Summary and conclusions

This chapter summarizes the central points argued for in the analyses chapters. The multi-locus analysis goes beyond the limitations of the parametric approach and can explain the rich variation and change in the syntax of negation. This multi-locus approach explains variation (and change) by looking into the interface between syntax on the one hand, and morphology and semantics on the other hand. This approach also provides a solid ground for investigating other syntactic categories such as the syntax of adverbs, subjects, tense and the left periphery. The ability to explain the syntactic behaviour of these categories (their co-occurrence restrictions, semantic ambiguities and subtle interpretational contrasts) leads to better understanding of key issues related to the syntax of subjects, the movement of adverbs and head movement of verbal and non-verbal predicates. Moreover, the multi-locus analysis of negation gives us insights into the syntactic licensing of a vital category of Negative Sensitive Items (NSIs) in Arabic. The syntactic licensing of these categories in Arabic bears on key theoretical issues in the cross-linguistic studies of negation and NSIs. Such issues include the syntactic licensing configurations for these items, their feature structure and availability of syntactic agreement with negation.

The Jespersen Cycle of negation

This chapter explores the dynamic interaction between syntax and morpho-phonology behind the complex variation in negation strategies in Jordanian Arabic involving unexpected change-in-progress counter to the direction of the Jespersen Cycle (JC). This chapter discusses free variation and mutual exclusivity of negation strategies from diachronic perspective within the JC of negation. The primary focus is on the limited distribution of enclitic negation (JC stage III) and ongoing spread of single negation (JC stage I) in pragmatically marked contexts. Enclitic negation of labial-initial predicates is analysed as phonological reduction and deletion of proclitic ma (JC stage II). This analysis sheds light on the interplay between the I-language and E-language with respect to the locus of negation. Internal factors (both syntactic and pragmatic) block the spread of stage III negation using the enclitic negative marker by itself, the new marker from a Jespersen Cycle perspective, despite phonological factors spreading stage III. Pragmatic ambiguity as a trigger for change in the spread of single negation in subtle contexts (ambiguous contexts) is an E-language feature, explaining its spread in unmarked contexts. The ongoing spread of single negation in unmarked contexts is an I-language change-in-progress from single-locus to multi-locus distribution for the negative marker maa.

Licensing Negative Sensitive Items

This chapter introduces the key contrasts between two major NSI categories and shows the explanatory adequacy of the multi-locus analysis of negation to account for the mutual exclusivity between certain NSIs on the one hand and bipartite negation in JA and the negative marker maa in SA on the other hand. NSIs’ interaction with negation takes place in at least three different ways. First, negation is (usually) required in simple declarative sentences containing an NSI. Second, certain NSIs have a negative interpretation when used as fragment answers despite the absence of overt negation. Third, certain negative markers are in complementary distribution with certain NSIs. The chapter starts by defining the major NSI types along with their lexical categories. It then lays out the theoretical background of NSI licensing as this is necessary to develop an analysis for NSIs based on the multi-locus analysis of negation. This chapter extends this analysis to the Qatari and SA data giving further evidence that the different positions of negation have different effects on the licensing of NPIs. This chapter also discusses the interaction between higher negation and determiner NCIs (wala-NP) as well as the interaction between maa and NPIs in SA.

Locus of negation in syntactic structure

The literature on the locus of negation in syntactic structure focuses primarily on the position of negation relative to the spine of the clause, the Inflectional Phrase (IP/TP), and whether the negative phrase (NegP) follows or precedes TP. Of particular debate is whether or not the locus of NegP is a parametric choice whereby the Individual/Internal Language (I-Language) of the speaker has the locus of NegP set to one of the two options available in Universal Grammar (UG). The alternative view is that NegP can project below or above TP and can have multiple positions within the structure, each with different syntactic and semantic effects. This chapter discusses both views and proposes a multi-locus analysis for negation in Arabic. After a discussion of these two views, I discuss key issues in the syntax of subjects, verb movement, and tense and aspect in Arabic. These topics are intimately related to the syntax of negation and the analyses presented in this and the subsequent chapters of this monograph. I then present the multi-locus analysis advancing empirical and theoretical arguments from key word order generalizations involving adverbs, subjects, complementizers, and the verbal copula.