Indefinites, negation and Jespersen’s Cycle in the history of Low German

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20344648
AutoresAnne Breitbarth (0000-0001-8300-8275, Ghent University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2013
Volumen30
Número2
Páginas171-201
Fecha de publicación2013-07-11
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDiachronica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0176-4225 • E-ISSN: 1569-9714
EditorialJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/dia.30.2.02bre
OpenAlexW2054512097
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas47
Referencias citadas17

This paper offers a formal account of the diachronic changes in the interaction between indefinites in the scope of negation and the expression of sentential negation in the history of Low German. Different types of negative concord develop at the different historical stages. Parallel to that, the language underwent Jespersen’s Cycle. In addition, I argue that, against common belief, Jespersen’s Cycle is at best indirectly related to the type of interaction between indefinites and negation. Changes in the type of indefinites used in the scope of negation arise due to changes in the lexical properties of the indefinites involved, not as a result of changes in the expression of negation. Conversely, changes in the type of indefinites do not trigger changes in the expression of negation

German · Linguistics · Negation · Computer Science · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation