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.