MatrixDoc_SententialNegation

Documentation for the Grammar Matrix Customization Sentential Negation Library

• [ This documentation is under construction. When it is more complete, this section should describe the effects of the various options provided in this library in terms of the behavior of the grammar. It is also a good place for tips on how to get the most from the library. ]

Introduction

This document explains how to fill out the Sentential Negation page of the Grammar Matrix Customization questionnaire and presents background information on the sentential negation library of the Grammar Matrix Customization System (Bender et al., 2002; Bender and Flickinger, 2005; Bender et al., 2010). General instructions on using the questionnaire can be found here.

Citing the Sentential Negation Library

The standard reference for the Sentential Negation Library and its implementations is Crowgey 2012. The full reference and .bib entry can be found here.

Options

Please note that the work on the Sentential Negation page in Matrix Customization questionnaire is still in progress. In particular, some menu options under bipartite negation are only present as previews of future implementations and as of now provide no functionality. For more information please refer to the Upcoming Work section.

The Sentential Negation page is for describing sentential negation and not constituent negation. Please see examples of these two different types of negation (referring to which part of the sentence is negated, i.e. the entire sentence in sentential negation and just a constituent in constituent negation) below:

• Sentential negation: John did not read the book.

• Constituent negation: John asked Mary not to enter the house.

The Sentential Negation page in Matrix Customization questionnaire is divided into three sections, allowing you to specify the number of morphemes required for sentential negation in your language in the first section, model asymmetric negation if applicable to your language in the second section, and, finally, describe the morphemes in more detail in the menu in the third section. Please note that the third section appears only after you have completed the first section of the questionnaire, i.e. have chosen the number of morphemes required for sentential negation in your language. The options provided to you in the third section are defined according to the number of morphemes you have selected in the first section.

Number of morphemes

The coverage of sentential negation in Grammar Matrix is based on the assumption that the sentential negation usually requires presence of overt negation morphemes. The pre-defined options for the number of overt morphemes required for sentential negation in your language that Grammar Matrix customization system provides to you are:

• zero
• simple
• bipartite
• tripartite
• more?!

If you are modeling a language that does not use an overt marker for negation, e.g. Dravidian language Historical Kannada, which marks sentential negation by absence of a tense marker (otherwise present in the affirmative constructions), please select first option "zero".

If you are modeling a language that uses a single overt marker for negation, please select the second option "simple." If you select this option, next you will be provided with four options describing how this negation marker can be expressed in your language:

• Inflection

• Negative auxiliary verb

• Independent adverb

• Selected adverb

The pre-defined options above allow to model the single negation marker in your language through inflection of the verb (auxiliary, main, or finite verb), a separate negative auxiliary verb, or an adverb (independent adverb or selected adverb). An independent adverb is an adverb that modifies a V, a VP, or S. If you choose that option, you can also select what the adverb attaches to and on which side it attaches. A selected adverb is an adverb that is a complement selected by a verb (auxiliary, main, or finite verb).

If you are modeling a language that uses two overt markers for negation, please select the second option "bipartite." As mentioned earlier, the bipartite negation option is still being actively developed, so it is possible that you will encounter some difficulties in this section. If you select bipartite negation, you will be provided with several options on how to model sentential negation using two overt markers in your language, particularly the morphosyntax of these morphemes and their interactions. An example of the use of NEG1 and NEG2 morphemes is for languages in which one morpheme is the main contributor of negation semantics to the sentence (NEG1) and the second morpheme works as a resumptive or specifying marker (NEG2). Next, you can specify for each of these morphemes, NEG1 and NEG2, whether they are bound, free and the syntactic head, free and the syntactic complement, free and the syntactic modifier. Depending on the selections you make in this section, different options will appear and you will be instructed how to proceed in each case.

If you are modeling a language that uses three overt markers for negation, please select the third option "tripartite." An example of such language is a Lewo language of Vanuatu. This section is also under construction. For more information please refer to the Upcoming Work section.

Finally, if you encounter a language that uses more than three overt markers for negation, please let us know by e-mailing to matrix-dev mailing list.

Asymmetric Negation

If there are certain conditions under which negation is allowed/disallowed in your language, you can model it in the Asymmetric Negation section on the Sentential Negation questionnaire page. You will need to click on the arrow in the option provided to you by Matrix Customization system questionnaire (repeated below):

• ► asymmetric_negation_options

There are two ways that you can model asymmetric negation in your language:

• 1). Enable a [NEGATED luk] feature on syntactic HEAD. You will need to specify its value as [NEGATED +] on the verbs that allow negation and [NEGATED -] on the verbs or constructions that disallow negation. This option is provided to you on the bottom of the Asymmetric Negation section on the Sentential Negation questionnaire page:

  • Enable a HEAD feature ([NEGATED luk]) which is appropriate for heads of type verb.

  2). You can also model negation through agreement. For more information about modeling asymmetric negation through agreement, i.e. Maung negation that requires presence of irrealis mood marker, you can click on assymetric_negation_help arrow provided to you on the Sentential Negation page of the Grammar Matrix Customization questionnair

  ► asymmetric_negation_help

Analyses

• [ This documentation is under construction. When it is more complete, this section should describe the analyses that are implemented as part of this library and/or point to publications where those analyses are described. ]

Upcoming Work

• [ This documentation is under construction. When it is more complete, this section should describe any modifications to or enhancements of this library that are either in progress or planned. ]

References

Crowgey, Joshua. 2012. The Syntactic Exponence of Sentential Negation: a model for the LinGO Grammar Matrix. Masters thesis, University of Washington.

bibtex:

@mastersthesis{Crowgey:12,
author = {Joshua Crowgey},
year = {2012},
title = {The Syntactic Exponence of Sentential Negation: a model for the LinGO Grammar Matrix},
school = {University of Washington}
}

Givón, Talmy. 1984. Syntax: a typological-functional introduction [vol. III]. John Benjamins. Amsterdam, Philidelphia.

bibtex:

@book{Givón:1984,
author = {Talmy Givón},
year = {1984},
volume = {III},
title = {Syntax: a typological-functional introduction},
publisher = {John Benjamins. Amsterdam, Philidelphia}
}