Diachronic negation in English : a minimalist analysis with references to other languages
Abstract
This thesis traces the development of negation in English, providing a brief synopsis and a Minimalist analysis of each stage. Brief discussions of negation in other languages (focused primarily on other Germanic languages, French, and Arabic dialects) follow the description of each stage. “Jespersen’s cycle” accounts for the development of most of the stages of negation, but it does not adequately explain the rise of auxiliated negation in English. I contend that negation located in the head of a negative projection either raises with verbs as they check features, or it blocks verbs from raising to check features. Using the Lexicalist Mirror Principle to account for differences in functional projections and ordering thereof, I present and support this hypothesis by analyzing negation strategies in Mandarin Chinese, Classical Tibetan, Finnish, Korean, Turkish, and Swahili. I conclude with a proposal for the future development of negation in English-the negative auxiliary.
URI
http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/uga_etd/cloutier_robert_a_200208_mahttp://hdl.handle.net/10724/29522
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Applications in pharmacokinetic modeling
Arnold, Esther (uga, 2003-05)In this paper I discuss the melancholy nature of happiness in two short stories by Herman Melville, “The Piazza” and “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” Applying Melville’s passage from Moby-Dick on the “conceit of attainable ... -
El rol de la cortesia en entrevistas politicas conflictivas en la television peruana
Minchola, Ninosca Perez (uga, 2007-08)This study looks to examine and describe the role of politeness in televised political interviews in Peru. Under the theoretical framework developed by Brown and Levinson (1987), politeness has been described as a tool for ... -
Linking parental autonomy support and parental structure to the development of inhibitory control in 4-year-olds
Kwon, Josephine Arum (uga, 2012-12)This study examined the main and joint effects of maternal autonomy support(AS) and maternal structure(ST) on preschoolers’ inhibitory control, as well as the moderating effect of child emotional negativity on the relationship ...