Introduction
Once my teacher of the English language said me to replace onto another place in the class. But my reply was in Russian: «Ага, Щас». My teacher was surprised and asked me if I meant this phrase “Yes” or “No”. Of course it was an irony. And she told us about different types of negation in English and in Russian. This telling appeared to be very interesting and amazing. That`s why I decided to research the topic of the negation in English.
For many years the study of negation occupies a central role in formal linguistics. Negation turned the main topic of syntactic and semantic theory. This is based on many reasons: negation is present in all world languages, it can be expressed in different forms and meanings, as well as interact with the other phenomena in natural language.
The aim of my work is to explain the problems that refer to the object of investigation and to analyze the usage of different ways of negative form expressions in English and Russian.
Object of investigation – negative form expressions as grammatical phenomena.
Subject of investigation – characteristic features of the use of negative form expressions in the English language.
Objectives
– to study theoretical aspects of negative form expressions;
– to investigate and explain different forms of negative expressions;
– to analyze main problems and difficulties with negative form expressions in the languages.
Methods of investigation. In the course of our investigation we have used descriptive method and the method of comparative analysis.
It would be difficult to deny the existence of recurrent topics and research areas in English linguistics and, even more, in the general linguistic panorama. They are generally fields of study that stand out for their complexity and universality. They normally show relevant implications for the entire grammatical system and they tend to be susceptible of analysis from multiple perspectives and approaches. Without doubt, one of these major linguistic areas is negation.
Chapter One contains the general notions of the comparison of the Russian and English negation.
Chapter Two illustrates the analysis.
In conclusion, we have summed up the results of the work.
In bibliography we present the literary sources that we have used during our research.
Chapter I. Comparison of the Russian and English negation
I`ve started my research from interviewing my classmates. I was interested in their negative replies on my questions in English as well as in Russian. Their answers in English were so primitive: “Oh, I don`t know”, “Oh, no”, “No, no, no” etc. But in Russian the phrases were: “Ну вот еще” (this is a neutral phrase, but it means negation); “Нет, не буду”; “Не могу не согласиться” - (this phrase is right in Russian but if we translate it in English it will be: I can`t but agree. And we can see that in English we don`t have double-negation).
Negation is a linguistic, cognitive, and intellectual phenomenon. It is fundamentally important to all human thought. Horn and Kato put it:
“Negative utterances are a core feature of every system of human communication and of no system of animal communication. Negation and its correlates – truth-values, false messages, contradiction, and irony – can thus be seen as defining characteristics of the human species.”
Formally, according to the logic and the language, a functor called by logicians ‘Negation’ is the only significant monadic functor; its behavior is described by the most basic axiom of logic, the Law of, which asserts that No Proposition is both True and Not True. Pragmatically, according to pragmatics, negation provides, among many other concepts, the basic ‘cancellation test’ for presupposition, as well as the fundamental observations that underlie theories of politeness and ironic bonding.
Negative markers. Negative statements with a ‘not’ may have different implied meanings than those with a ‘no’, even if they can be used interchangeably sometimes. The following examples can tell the difference.
For example:
He is not a father. <---> He is no father.
We did not receive any message. <---> We received no message (at all).
When the two sentences in the first pair are contrasted, the first one means he is not a father, as he has no son or daughter. However, the second sentence has a meaning that he is a father of someone but he is not performing the role that a father does. In the second pair, the first sentence means we did not expect or receive any message but the second sentence shows we expected but did not receive any message.
Moreover, ‘No’ is more emphatic than ‘not a’ or ‘not any’ when stating a negative idea.
For example:
There aren’t any staff in the office. <---> There’re no staff in the office.
I don’t have any girlfriends. <---> I have no girlfriends (to speak of).
‘Not’ and ‘Never’ do have some common features in usage, especially when ‘not’ is used as an adverb. For example, they must be placed in front of the main verb. However, ‘never’ does not require the dummy auxiliary ‘do’ in forming a sentence.
I did not leave my brothers behind.<---> I never left my brothers behind.
It is not usual for ‘not’ to be used together with a ‘N-negator’ in the same clause. ‘Not’, very often, pairs with non-assertive items.
I didn’t eat anything. <---> I ate nothing.
When both the ‘not’ and ‘N-negator’ are used, the sentence will become a double-negation which does not carry the opposite meaning—it is grammatically wrong and a sign of disrespect.
I didn’t eat anything. ? I didn’t eat nothing.
There are a lot of use of negation in English. We look through them in the next chapter.
Chapter II. The analysis
Negation is the grammatical operation whereby a proposition is replaced by one that states the opposite. An affirmative form expresses the validity or truth of a basic assertion. A negative form expresses the falsity of a basic assertion. In the English language, sentences may be negated with the adverbs not and never, the determiner no, and the indefinite pronouns no one, nobody, and none as well as other negative words.
Negating Verb Phrases
Sentences in English can first be negated through verb phrase negation. Verb phrases in English can be negated by inserting the negative adverb not after the first auxiliary verb of the verb phrase or by inserting the operator do and the negative adverb not before the verb. For example, the following sentence pairs are examples of positive and negated English sentences in which the verb phrases are negated:
Could you play your guitar? (positive)
Could you not play your guitar? (negated)
She will have earned her degree. (positive)
She will not have earned her degree. (negated)
You could have been eating your dessert by now. (positive)
You could not have been eating your dessert by now. (negated)
Verb phrase negation with the adverb not is the preferred method for negation in English.
Negating Noun Phrases
Sentences in English can secondly be negated through noun phrase negation. Noun phrases in English can be negated by inserting the quantifying determiner no in front of the noun phrase. For example, the following sentence pairs are examples of positive and negated English sentences in which the noun phrases are negated:
I have time today. (positive)
I have no time today. (negated)
Dogs are allowed in my house. (positive)
No dogs are allowed in my house. (negated)
The store will sell food. (positive)
The store will sell no food. (negated)
Credit cards are accepted at the market. (positive)
No credit cards are accepted at the market. (negated)
There are storms in the weather forecast. (positive)
There are no storms in the weather forecast. (negated)
Negating Adjective Phrases
Sentences in English can thirdly be negated through adjective phrase negation. Adjective phrases in English can be negated by inserting the negative adverb not in front of the adjective phrase. For example, the following sentence pairs are examples of positive and negated English sentences in which the adjective phrases are negated:
The man is tall. (positive)
The man is not tall. (negated)
My mother was pregnant. (positive)
My mother was not pregnant. (negated)
Her boss was unfriendly. (positive)
Her boss was not unfriendly. (negated)
He is a wonderful person. (positive)
He is not a wonderful person. (negated)
She is an unhappy baby. (positive)
She is not an unhappy baby. (negated)
Other English Negations
Other words in English can also form negated sentences. Other English negations include negative indefinite pronouns such as no one, nobody, and none and the negative adverbs never. Other negation words also include nowhere, nothing, hardly, and scarcely. For example, the following sentences pairs are examples of positive and negated English sentences that contain other negative words:
She bought someone a present. (positive)
She bought no one a present. (negated)
Somebody called for you. (positive)
Nobody called for you. (negated)
I have some. (positive)
I have none. (negated)
The custodian has always forgotten to empty my trash. (positive)
The custodian has never forgotten to empty my trash. (negated)
Always knock before entering. (positive)
Never knock before entering. (negated)
The indefinite pronouns someone, somebody, and some are often used as the opposites of no one, nobody, and none and the adverb always as the opposite of never.
The difference between “NO” and “NOT”
When using the pronoun “NO”:
• Questions that need a definite answer – Yes or no (NO or YES):
A: Would you like some cake?
B: No, I don’t want any cake (or Yes, I want cake)
• Before nouns without the article:
He had no reason for being late
(He had no reason(s) for late arrivals)
• Before a noun with an adjective (in addition to any, much, many, enough – in this case, they are translated as adjectives):
He has no worthy opponents
(He has no worthy opponents)
When using the pronoun “NOT”:
• Before a noun with a definite article:
This is not a car
(It’s not a car)
• Before pronouns any/ many, much, enough:
We do not have enough time
(Not enough time)
• In the formation of verbs in the negative form:
I do not want cake
(I don’t want cake)
I don’t like cold weather
(I don’t like cold weather)
Conclusion
Having studied and analyzed the theoretical works we have come to the conclusion that there are different ways of negative form expressions. Negation has proven to be one of the core topics in syntactic and semantic theories. It is interesting for many reasons. First of all it is present in every language in the world. It also exhibits a range of variation with respect to the way it can be expressed or interpreted. It interacts with many other phenomena in natural language.
Many negative markers seem to share the same purpose – to negate; but there are subtle semantic differences among them. As each of them has its own unique features, it is important for writers to identify the specific meanings of these markers. Negative statements with a ‘not’ may have different implied meanings than those with a ‘no’, even if they can be used interchangeably sometimes. Moreover, ‘No’ is more emphatic than ‘not a’ or ‘not any’ when stating a negative idea. ‘Not’ and ‘Never’ do have some common features in usage, especially when ‘not’ is used as an adverb. Negative questions can be used for a variety of purposes. A negative question can be used to reconfirm a point or it can be used as an exclamation. A negative question can also soften the tone of a suggestion or ask for a confirmation of a negative belief. Negative questions can also be used as question tags. A question tag or tag question is usually appended to a statement. If the statement is positive, the tag is generally negative, and vice versa.
Thus, we approve that our aim that was put at the beginning of our work was achieved.
Библиографическая ссылка
Севастьянов В.Н. ОТРИЦАНИЕ В АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ (NEGATION IN ENGLISH) // Старт в науке. – 2016. – № 3. ;URL: https://science-start.ru/ru/article/view?id=319 (дата обращения: 16.04.2024).