A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF SENTENTIAL AND CONSTITUENT-LEVEL NEGATION IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN
A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF SENTENTIAL AND CONSTITUENT-LEVEL NEGATION IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN
Author(s): Andreea Codrina TănaseSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Foreign languages learning, Semiotics / Semiology, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, Language acquisition, Comparative Linguistics, Philology, Translation Studies, Theory of Literature, Phraseology, Stylistics
Published by: Editura Arhipelag XXI
Keywords: negation; negative polarity items; sentential negation; constituent negation; contrastive analysis
Summary/Abstract: This paper presents a contrastive analysis of negation and negative polarity items in English and German, drawing on a range of linguistic data to explore the structural and interpretive differences between the two languages (see Lasnik 1972, Zeijlstra 2004). By examining both sentence-level and constituent-level elements that contribute to negative meaning, such as negative markers, quantifiers, semi-negatives, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and affixes, this analysis highlights the semantic flexibility and syntactic diversity of negation, showing that while English and German share certain typological features, they diverge significantly in how they each employ negative elements.
Journal: Journal of Romanian Literary Studies
- Issue Year: 2025
- Issue No: 41
- Page Range: 372-379
- Page Count: 8
- Language: English
