The History of Low German Negation (Oxford Studies in Diachronic and Historical Linguistics)

## Abstract While the development of negation has in recent years gained an increased interest in linguistic research, as witnessed by a large number of new publications, this development has not yet been thoroughly and diachronically studied for historical Low German, as the historical syntax of Low German more generally is only recently coming out of the shadows. The book investigates quantitatively two empirical domains. First, the development of the expression of standard negation, or Jespersen’s Cycle, and second the changing interaction between the expression of negation and indefinites in its scope, giving rise to different types of negative concord along the way. The entire period of attestation from Old Saxon (Old Low German) to the point when Middle Low German is replaced by High German as the written language, after the completion of Jespersen’s Cycle, is taken into consideration. It is shown that the developments in Low German form a missing link between those in High German, English, and Dutch, which are much better researched. The developments are analysed using a generative account of syntactic change combined with minimalist assumptions concerning the syntax of negation and negative concord. Cover 1 The History of Low German Negation 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Series preface 8 Preface 9 List of tables 10 List of figures 13 1: Introduction 14 1.1 Aim and scope of this book 14 1.2 A brief history of Low German 20 1.3 The corpus 21 1.4 Overview 27 2: The expression of standard negation 29 2.1 Old Low German 29 2.1.1 The preverbal clitic negation particle 29 2.1.2 Negation strengtheners 32 2.1.2.1 General remarks 32 2.1.2.2 Negation strengtheners in Old Low German 35 2.1.3 Summary 43 2.2 Middle Low German 43 2.2.1 The preverbal clitic particle 43 2.2.2 The bipartite expression of negation and the verb-independent negation particle 49 2.2.3 Factors influencing the use of ne/en with nicht in Middle Low German 51 2.2.3.1 The influence of the date of composition 55 2.2.3.2 The influence of the dialect 56 2.2.3.3 The influence of the position of the finite verb 60 2.2.3.4 The influence of the type of verb 63 2.2.4 Summary 66 2.3 Conclusion 67 3: Indefinites in the scope of negation 68 3.1 Common developments and interactions 68 3.1.1 Indefinite systems 68 3.1.2 Negative concord 75 3.2 Old Low German 81 3.2.1 The indefinite system of Old Low German 81 3.2.2 Patterns of interaction 85 3.2.3 Factors influencing the choice between n-free and n-marked indefinite 88 3.2.3.1 Adjacency of the indefinite and ni+V 89 3.2.3.2 Anti-adjacency of the indefinite and ni+V 92 3.2.3.3 Relative order of indefinite and ni+V and syntactic function of the n-indefinite 95 3.2.3.4 Topological position of the indefinite 97 3.2.3.5 Other material expressing negation 103 3.2.4 Summary 104 3.3 Middle Low German 105 3.3.1 The indefinite system of Middle Low German 105 3.3.2 Patterns of interaction 108 3.3.3 Factors influencing the occurrence of en with negative indefinites 112 3.3.3.1 The influence of the date of composition 112 3.3.3.2 The influence of the dialect 113 3.3.3.3 The influence of the position of the finite verb 114 3.3.3.4 The influence of the type of verb 118 3.3.4 Summary 120 3.4 Conclusion 120 4: Theoretical background 122 4.1 Syntactic theory 122 4.2 Language change 124 4.3 The syntactic representation of negation 128 4.3.1 NegP-approaches to the syntax of negation 128 4.3.2 Earlier NegP-free approaches 134 4.4 Jespersen’s Cycle 136 4.4.1 NegP-accounts of Jespersen’s Cycle 136 4.4.2 A NegP-free account of Jespersen’s Cycle 140 4.5 Negative concord 150 4.6 Summary 154 5: The development of negation in Low German 156 5.1 The interaction of indefinites and negation in historical Low German 157 5.1.1 Negative concord in Old Low German 157 5.1.2 Negative concord in Middle Low German 164 5.2 Incipient Jespersen’s Cycle in Old Low German 170 5.2.1 Preverbal ni/ne 170 5.2.2 The grammaticalization of nicht 170 5.3 Jespersen’s Cycle inMiddle Low German 174 5.3.1 The transition from stage II to stage III 174 5.3.2 The fate of the original preverbal particle 178 5.3.3 Grammar competition? 183 5.4 Conclusion 186 6: Conclusion 188 References 195 Index 214 This book examines the diachronic development of negation in Low German, from Old Saxon up to the point at which Middle Low German is replaced by High German as the written language. It investigates both the development of standard negation, or Jespersen's Cycle, and the changing interaction between the expression of negation and indefinites in its scope, giving rise to negative concord along the way. Anne Breitbarth shows that developments in Low German form a missing link between those in High German, English, and Dutch, which have been much more widely researched. These changes are analysed using a generative account of syntactic change combined with minimalist assumptions concerning the syntax of negation and negative concord. The book provides the first substantial, diachronic analysis of the development of the expression of negation through the Old Saxon and Middle Low German periods, and will be of interest not only to students and researchers in the history of German, but also to all those working on the syntax of negation from a diachronic and synchronic perspective. This Work Examines The Diachronic Development Of Negation In Low German, From Old Saxon To Middle Low German. It Is The First Substantial Diachronic Analysis Of These Changes And Looks At Both The Development Of Standard Negation And The Changing Interaction Between The Expression Of Negation And Indefinites In Its Scope. The Expression Of Standard Negation -- Indefinites In The Scope Of Negation -- Theoretical Background -- The Development Of Negation In Low German. Anne Breitbarth. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 182-199) And Index. This book examines the diachronic development of negation in Low German, from Old Saxon to Middle Low German. It is the first substantial diachronic analysis of these changes and looks at both the development of standard negation and the changing interaction between the expression of negation and indefinites in its scope.