Table Of ContentGÖPPINGER ARBEITEN ZUR GERMANISTIK
herausgegeben von
Ulrich Müller, Franz Hundsnurscher und Cornelius Sommer
Nr. 177
A Semantic Syntax of Grammatical Negation
in the Older Germanic Dialects
by
Virginia M. Coombs
VERLAG ALFRED KÜMMERLE
Göppingen 1976
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A Semantic Syntax of Grammatical Negation
in the Older Germanic Dialects
Virginia M. Coombs
This study examines the morphological reflexes of grammatical negation
in the older Germanic dialects, Gothic, Old High German, Old Saxon, Old English
and Old Icelandic. The term grammatical negation is defined by the class of
negative morphemes which are phrase markers in a transformational-generative
grammar. A syntactic-semantic delineation of the negative operation is presented
to determine whether the various morphological shapes which the negative
assumes in the surface level representations pose a problem of synonmy at
the semantic level.
Each of the older dialects is treated synchronically using the initial
parameter of grammatical categories. Both syntactic and semantic procedures are
applied to the corpus for each dialect. Syntactic insight is gained by generating
the surface negatives from one underlying abstract category after Klima*s (1964)
model. Semantic information for the negative is obtained from surface level
syntagms, composed of a negative morpheme and a given grammatical morpheme, e.g.,
the verb, noun, or adverb. The syntagm is then subjected to a feature analysus.
The data for all five older Germanic dialects show that the negative
morpheme plus finite verb bears a high functional load with regard to sentential
negation.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge two of my teachers who have
guided, encouraged, and developed my interest in German studies.
I thank Miss Eleanor Beers, my first German teacher, for giving
me a solid foundation in the fundamentals of the German language
and an appreciation for the literature and culture of the German
people.
My sincere thanks and deepest appreciation go to my advisor
and teacher Professor Irmengard Rauch who gave unselfishly of her
time to direct the research and writing of this dissertation. Her
excellent teaching has been an inspiration to me throughout my
graduate studies, and I am indebted to her for all the encouragement
and support she provided to further my studies in Germanic linguistics.
This thesis was originally accepted in July, 1974 by the
Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana,
Illinois in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement iii
Table of Contents iv
Chapter One: Introduction and Method
1.1 The Problem 1
1.2 Overview of Past Research 2
1.3 Method in This Study 3
1.3.1 The Syntactic Procedure 3
1.3.2 The Semantic Procedure 7
Chapter Two: Literature on Negation in the Older Germanic Dialects
2.0 General Remarks 12
2.1 Taxonomic Approaches 12
2.2 Transformational-Generative Approaches 19
Chapter Three: Gothic
3.0 The Gothic Source 26
3.1 Negative Morphemes and Their Traditional Interpretation 26
3.2 Grammatical Categories 29
3.2.1 Negative Morphemes and the Finite Verb 29
3.2.2 Negative Morphemes and Non-Finite Verbals 35
3.2.3 Table 1: Gothic Negative Plus Finite and Non-Finite
Verbals 42
3.2.4 Negative Morphemes and Adverbs 45
3.2.5 Table 2: Gothic Negated Adverbs 50
3.2.6 Negative Morphemes and Adjectives 52
3.2.7 The Negative Prefix un- 55
V
3.2.8 Table 3: Gothic Negated Adjectives 57
3.2.9 Negative Morphemes and Nouns 60
3.2.10 Negative Morphemes and Pronouns 64
3.2.11 Table 4: Gothic Negated Nouns and Pronouns 68
3.3 Summary 70
Chapter Four: Old High German
4.0 The Old High German Source 74
4.1 Negative Morphemes 75
4.2 Grammatical Categories 77
4.2.1 Negative Morphemes and the Finite Verb 78
4.2.1.1 Negative Particle Plus Semantically PositiveF inite Verb 78
4.2.1.2 Negative Particle Plus Lexical Negative FiniteV erb 79
4.2.1.3 Reinforcing Morphemes 83
4.2.1.4 Table 5: Old High German Negative Morphemesa nd Verbs 88
4.2.1.5 Multiple Grammatical Negatives 90
4.2.1.6 Conjoining Negative Clauses 93
4.2.1.7 Table 6: Old High German Additional Negative Morphemes 103
4.2.2 Negative Morphemes and Adverbs 105
4.2.3 Table 7: Old High German Negated Adverbs 105
4.2.4 Negative Morphemes and Substantives 108
4.2.5 Table 8: Old High German Negated Substantives 111
4.3 Summary 113
Chapter Five: Old Saxon
5.0 The Old Saxon Source 117
5.1 Negative Morphemes and Their Traditional Interpretation 118
5.2 Grammatical Categories 120
vi
5.2.1.0 Negative Morphemes and the Finite Verb 120
5.2.1.1 Reinforcing Morphemes 124
5.2.2 Table 9: Old Saxon Negative Morphemes Plus Finite Verb 129
5.2.3 Multiple Grammatical Negatives 132
5.2.4 Table 10: Old Saxon Additional Negative Morphemes 138
5.2.5 Conjoining Negative Clauses 141
5.2.6 Table 11: Old Saxon Conjoining Negative Clauses 150
5.2.7 Summary 152
Chapter Six: Old English
6.0 The Old English Source 156
6.1 Negative Morphemes and their TraditionalI nterpretation 156
6.2 Grammatical Categories 159
6.2.1 Negative Morphemes and the Finite Verb 159
6.2.1.1 Reinforcing Morphemes 160
6.2.1.2 Table 12: Old English Negative Morphemes Plus Finite
Verb 171
6.2.1.3 Multiple Grammatical Negatives 173
6.2.1.4 Table 13: Old English Additional Negative Morphemes 179
6.2.3 Negative Morphemes and Adverbs 182
6.2.4 Table 14: Old English Negated Adverbs 186
6.2.5 Negative Morphemes and Pronouns 188
6.2.6 Table 15: Old English Negated Pronouns 189
6.3 Summary 192
Chapter Seven: Old Icelandic
7.0 The Old Icelandic Source 197
7.1 Negative Morphemes and their Traditional Interpretation 197
7.2 Grammatical Categories 201
