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

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. Cover The History of Low German Negation Copyright Contents Series preface Preface List of tables List of figures 1: Introduction 1.1 Aim and scope of this book 1.2 A brief history of Low German 1.3 The corpus 1.4 Overview 2: The expression of standard negation 2.1 Old Low German 2.1.1 The preverbal clitic negation particle 2.1.2 Negation strengtheners 2.1.2.1 General remarks 2.1.2.2 Negation strengtheners in Old Low German 2.1.3 Summary 2.2 Middle Low German 2.2.1 The preverbal clitic particle 2.2.2 The bipartite expression of negation and the verb-independent negation particle 2.2.3 Factors influencing the use of ne/en with nicht in Middle Low German 2.2.3.1 The influence of the date of composition 2.2.3.2 The influence of the dialect 2.2.3.3 The influence of the position of the finite verb 2.2.3.4 The influence of the type of verb 2.2.4 Summary 2.3 Conclusion 3: Indefinites in the scope of negation 3.1 Common developments and interactions 3.1.1 Indefinite systems 3.1.2 Negative concord 3.2 Old Low German 3.2.1 The indefinite system of Old Low German 3.2.2 Patterns of interaction 3.2.3 Factors influencing the choice between n-free and n-marked indefinite 3.2.3.1 Adjacency of the indefinite and ni+V 3.2.3.2 Anti-adjacency of the indefinite and ni+V 3.2.3.3 Relative order of indefinite and ni+V and syntactic function of the n-indefinite 3.2.3.4 Topological position of the indefinite 3.2.3.5 Other material expressing negation 3.2.4 Summary 3.3 Middle Low German 3.3.1 The indefinite system of Middle Low German 3.3.2 Patterns of interaction 3.3.3 Factors influencing the occurrence of en with negative indefinites 3.3.3.1 The influence of the date of composition 3.3.3.2 The influence of the dialect 3.3.3.3 The influence of the position of the finite verb 3.3.3.4 The influence of the type of verb 3.3.4 Summary 3.4 Conclusion 4: Theoretical background 4.1 Syntactic theory 4.2 Language change 4.3 The syntactic representation of negation 4.3.1 NegP-approaches to the syntax of negation 4.3.2 Earlier NegP-free approaches 4.4 Jespersen’s Cycle 4.4.1 NegP-accounts of Jespersen’s Cycle 4.4.2 A NegP-free account of Jespersen’s Cycle 4.5 Negative concord 4.6 Summary 5: The development of negation in Low German 5.1 The interaction of indefinites and negation in historical Low German 5.1.1 Negative concord in Old Low German 5.1.2 Negative concord in Middle Low German 5.2 Incipient Jespersen’s Cycle in Old Low German 5.2.1 Preverbal ni/ne 5.2.2 The grammaticalization of nicht 5.3 Jespersen’s Cycle inMiddle Low German 5.3.1 The transition from stage II to stage III 5.3.2 The fate of the original preverbal particle 5.3.3 Grammar competition? 5.4 Conclusion 6: Conclusion References Index 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.