Understudied aspects of negation

Negation is among the few demonstrably universal features of human languages. As such it has been widely studied in various branches of linguistics. Still, there remain a number of aspects that require further research, especially from a cross-linguistic perspective. Here I focus on two: (i) negation of states as opposed to negation of events and (ii) lexical expressions of negation.

I have done extensive work on these topics based on large datasets.

Preliminary classifications suggest that negation of states tends to be split between negation of availability and negation of identity.

Lexical expressions of negation cluster around a limited number of categories that have to with basic human experience: not knowing, not wanting, not having, to name some. However, typology is not a single-researcher enterprise.

In fact, in order to produce plausible classifications and informed accounts, consultation with specialists on specific families is indispensable. To this end, I seek collaboration with Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, Université Lumière–Lyon 2, France.

This department is currently one of the most vibrant research venues in Europe as regards language documentation, historical linguistics, typology and neurolinguistics.

The collaboration I plan includes data analyses, discussion of diachronic hypotheses, and finally, verifying and consolidating the typologies suggested so far. The project outlined here will result in two scholarly articles in high profile journals