As one of the few true universal grammatical categories, negation has received a substantial amount of attention in the linguistics literature. This includes studies on negation in individual languages, specific negation strategies, as well as those detailing comparative observations and insights. The History of Negation in the Languages of Europe and the Mediterranean falls into the third category, although building on a significant body of work that falls into the first two categories.
This is the second in a two-part series. While Volume I comprises a comparative study of the history of negation through the development of 10 case studies, Volume II focuses on patterns of historical change. The study adopts the ‘comparing diachronies’ approach (see Fleischer & Simon Reference Fleischer, Simon, Fleischer and Simon2013) with the focus on a small number of languages of Europe and the Mediterranean, for which clearly identifiable patterns can be found. The book explores both internal and external processes of change with the aim of developing a cohesive theoretical and empirically-informed account of the patterns attested.
The work is guided by three primary questions:
The authors bring together a vast body of work to address these questions. The first part of the book examines instances of cyclical renewal of negative markers. The second part of the book explores developments which affect elements in the scope of negation. In each case, there is a clear focus on the often cyclical processes of change and commonly observed patterns.
Another impressive achievement of the volume is the combination of empirical and theoretical coverage. For the theoretically inclined who want to see what insights the study might provide for generative accounts of language change or indeed accounts of negation, the formal account is no doubt central and makes an excellent contribution. However, the richness of the data and the broader patterns observed mean that this book is of tremendous interest and makes a contribution well beyond the theoretical assumptions adopted.
The introduction lays out key definitions and theoretical underpinnings which are employed. Standard negation is defined as the formal means of negating basic sentences, while sentential negation is defined as the broader semantic notion(s) of negation in a given language. The introduction draws on a wide range of key earlier work but naturally Jespersen’s cycle constitutes a central part of the exploration.
Chapter 2 examines generalisations and patterns which occur in Jespersen’s cycle in the languages of the study. A significant proportion is dedicated to incipient Jespersen’s cycle – the early stage in the process which sees the emergence of items that have the potential to become part of a ‘successful’ cycle. Questions arise in relation to what factors influence whether or not this potential enrolment is realised, what ‘bridges’ elements need to pass along in order to become new fully-fledged negative markers, as well as the conditions required in order to advance to the next stage.
The chapter examines the primary lexical sources for new negators as well as different possible pathways along which adverbial reinforcers of negation may progress. There are questions raised in terms of the speed at which these cyclical processes occur – while the stages may reflect cross-linguistically widespread patterns, the time spent at any given stage varies. The impact of this is a high degree of variation in how long it takes languages to ‘complete’ the Jespersen’s cycle. The chapter also highlights that progression from one stage to the next is by no means automatic and may stop at any point or, indeed, may never start.
Chapter 3 looks at the internal motivations that lead to cyclical renewal of sentential negation and presents a formal account of these structures. As has been widely noted, a crucial feature of Jespersen’s cycle is the rise of a new postverbal negator which ultimately replaces the preverbal negator. This chapter looks at the internal factors that result in this change. Specifically, it examines the development of negators from negative polarity adverbs (NPAs), as well as syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties that facilitate the initiation of Jespersen’s cycle. It considers the motivations for the development of a new postverbal marker or negative quantifier, the obstacles to completion of the process, what factors keep a situation stable and which determine the speed of the process.
Chapter 4 explores the role of language contact, particularly in the diffusion of Jespersen’s cycle across languages. An area of focus is the reconstruction of Jespersen’s cycle in Europe and North Africa, building on the now substantial body of data. The case studies presented argue for contact-induced syntactic change triggered by imposition (e.g. from Coptic to Egyptian Arabic) and borrowing (e.g. from Arabic to Berber varieties in North Africa). Support for the account comes from insights related to acquisition. Crucially, different sociolinguistic situations and conditions give rise to different kinds of transfer. Contact between adult speakers, with an imbalance in competence between source and recipient languages, is argued to be responsible for starting or advancing Jespersen’s Stage II in many of the examples discussed in this chapter. The transition from Stage II to Stage III is argued to be significantly slower when long-term bilingualism is involved. Overall, however, external causes through language contact are argued to have played an important role in the progress of Jespersen’s cycle in the languages of Europe and the Mediterranean.
Chapter 5 focuses on quantifier cycles and indefinites, and examines cross-linguistic generalisations in relation to indefinites in the scope of negation. These are also subject to cyclic renewal and it has been noted that the development of new indefinites used in negative clauses follows diachronic pathways in which an item often appears to become ‘increasingly negative’ (Jäger Reference Jäger2010, Biberauer & Roberts Reference Biberauer and Roberts2010, Hansen Reference Hansen and Hansen2014, Ingham & Kallel Reference Ingham, Kallel and Hansen2014). The chapter presents a comparative perspective on developments that indefinites may undergo. This include stages in a pathway of change in which indefinites are often involved (Haspelmath Reference Haspelmath1997), reflecting differences between, for example, irrealis contexts, questions, conditions, (indirect) negation comparatives and ultimately direct negation, the development of positive into negative quantifiers (e.g. ‘some, any’ > ‘no(ne)’). The chapter explores counter-cyclic developments noting that whilst most developments see a move from more positive to more negative, there are also instances in which the opposite occurs. The authors treat interactions between different processes of change with caution, concluding that the quantifier cycle does not trigger Jespersen’s cycle nor does Jespersen’s cycle itself trigger the quantifier cycle. And crucially either process can occur independently of the other.
Chapter 6 addresses language-internal motivations for the development of indefinites in the scope of negation and presents a formalised account. The chapter looks at both quantifier and free-choice cycles, drawing on syntactic, pragmatic, functional and acquisitional accounts. In contrast to Jespersen’s cycle, the quantifier and free-choice cycles do not involve a weakening and subsequent reinforcement of indefinites but rather the semantic properties of the indefinites change in a way that makes them available for use in NPI contexts. Parallels between the internal structure of indefinites undergoing the quantifier and free-choice cycle and the NPI indefinites that become NPAs and ultimately new negators in incipient Jespsersen’s cycle are noted. The chapter also examines the interaction of the quantifier cycle and Jespersen’s cycle, as well as looking at the interaction with other expressions of negation such as negative concord. The formal analysis involves a Restr head in addition to a quantificational head which encodes the contextual restrictions of the indefinite. The expansion to more negative contexts and withdrawal from less negative contexts is explained through an acquisitionist account, with children first acquire the most restrictive licensing context(s) and then widening their assumptions thereafter.
Chapter 7 looks at external motivations for change in these indefinite systems. It examines instances in which the form and/or distribution of indefinites may have been influenced by contact either through borrowing or imposition. The question here is whether individual lexical items are borrowed or whether they change their distribution as a result of imposition, with the new distribution based on the parallel structure in the source language. There are examples of both. The ways in which such processes of change can also be seen in linguistic areas such as the Balkans where evidence of convergence effects is attested is also explored. The chapter also provides an in-depth exploration of contact-induced remodelling of the indefinite system in Welsh through the development of a detailed case study. This latter case study in particular highlights the interplay between different processes of contact-induced change with internal factors of historical change.
Chapter 8 constitutes a conclusion, drawing out key points for the second volume. These relate to Jespersen’s cycle, the cycles associated with both indefinites and quantifiers, and the theoretical and empirical foundations which motivated the study.
Possible omissions include perhaps other comparable cycles that have been identified, such as the Negative Existential Cycle (see Croft Reference Croft1991 but also Veselinova Reference Veselinova2014 and subsequent work). While this is mentioned in the book and is noted to be outside of the immediate scope of the study, it seems that some broader discussion of patterns other than Jespersen’s might have been in order.
However, overall, this is an incredibly thorough account of negation in an impressively wide range of languages of Europe and the Mediterranean. The balance between empirical coverage and theoretical insights is skilfully achieved. And despite the clear theoretical motivation behind some of the discussion, it remains an invaluable reference point for those who do not ascribe to a generative approach, or who are indeed not inclined to a formal account of any stripe.
