Syntactic and morphological interactions of negation – a crosslinguistic study (B03)

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 509468465

In this project, we investigate the interactions of negation with other functional elements at different levels of the clause. In order to do so, we focus on two languages families of the Niger-Congo Phylum, the Bantu and the Mabia languages, as these show a very rich functional morphology and therefore predictably a large number of interactions. Based on fieldwork in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, we will investigate interactions of negation with, among other categories, tense, aspect, and mood marking, as well as imperatives. The expected systematic nature of these interactions will inform our understanding not just of negation and its different components, but also of the syntax of these understudied languages more generally.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1629: Negation in language and beyond (NegLaB)
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Project Heads: Professorin Katharina Hartmann, Ph.D., since 1/2024; Dr. Johannes Mursell, since 1/2024