The Negation System in Arabic and English language PDF

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The Negation System in Arabic and English language By Asmaa Al-salmi A Study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Course Contrastive Analysis and Translation 2019 The outline 1- The abstract 2- Review of Literature 3- The scope of The Study 4- Analysis and Discussion of the fi...

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The Negation System in Arabic and English language

By Asmaa Al-salmi

A Study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Course Contrastive Analysis and Translation 2019

The outline

1- The abstract 2- Review of Literature 3- The scope of The Study 4- Analysis and Discussion of the findings 4.1- Negation in Arabic a. Arabic negative particles b. implicit negation in Arabic c. double negation in Arabic d. negation by intonation 4.2- Negation in English a. English negative particles b. implicit negation in English c. double negation in English d. tag questions

5- Findings and Conclusion 6- References

Abstract

A contrastive analysis is adopted in this study to investigate the negation system of English and Arabic language . The study also aims to shed light on the points of similarities and differences in negation in both languages. The scope of the study is to investigate the syntactic and semantic behavior of negative particles in English and Arabic language. In order to support this aim, Data are taken from some grammar books and from other linguistics studies. Therefore, It is worth mentioning that these examples are not contextualized. The findings reveal that the two languages share some aspects in negation system and at the same time they differ in others. Key words: contrastive analysis, negation, syntactic behavior, semantic behavior

Review of literature

Each language has its own features which may hinder learning new language. Therefore, contrastive analysis can be used to study the challenges coming from the student native language in learning a new language which results in making their learning of the target language easier. It is considered to be a systematic branch of applied linguistics. Salim (2013) holds that contrastive analysis studies the linguistic structures of two or more different languages to find how these languages differ in their phonology, grammatical structure, and semantic. To put it in simpler words, contrastive linguistics is a branch of linguistics concerned with showing differences and similarities in the structure of at least two languages or dialects. One of these differences is sentence structure. According to Arabic grammar, The first word in the sentence determines the type of sentence ( nominal sentence or verbal one ). To put it differently, the nominal sentence starts with a noun and it contains Subject and predicate. The second type, by contrast, starts with a verb and it contains subject, verb and object. On the other hand, A complete English sentence has at least a subject and a main

verb to state a complete thought. Now, how can we negate these sentences in both languages? Every language has its ways to deny the truth of any declarative sentence and to reject a suggestion. These ways vary from a language to another, even within different varieties of the same language (Willis et al, 2013). Regardless of different language’s nature , Ama'aitah (2016) holds that all languages have their own devices that expressing negation either syntactically, semantically or morphologically. According to oxford dictionary the word negation means denial of something, involving the use of a negative word ( not, no, never) or a word or affix with negative force. Tottie (1991, as cited in Morante and Sporleder, 2012) claims that there are two types of negation in any natural language and they are, rejecting a suggestion and denying a fact either explicitly or implicitly. In order to fulfill its function , It needs negator. Dahl ( 1979, as cited in Ridha, 2014)) defines negator as a suitable way which use to refer to words or morphemes which express negation. It is interesting to note that, There are many negative particles that are used in Arabic language which have their own condition and specific uses. For instance, there are five common elements to negate in the Arabic language ( ,‫ ما‬,‫ال‬ ‫ ليس‬,‫ لن‬,‫) لم‬. Whereas, negation can happen in the English language in a number of ways, most commonly, when we use no, not, never, none, nobody, etc, and affixes. In turning back to the question of negating, an Arabic sentence with a verb is just required to negate the verb with one of these particles (‫ لن‬,‫ لم‬,‫ ما‬,‫ )ال‬, whereas, inserting the word (laysa ‫ ) ليس‬is required in nominal sentence. Inserting the negative adverb not after the first auxiliary verb of the verb phrase is one way of negating in English language or by inserting the operator do and the negative adverb not before the verb and inserting the quantifying determiner no in front of the noun phrase (Johnson, 2013).

Here are two tables summary the Arabic and English negative particles ( A-B) A. Arabic negative particles. Negation device

Example

Tense

The usage

‫ = ال‬La

‫ال تلعب في الشارع‬

Present tense

Mostly used immediately before the verb. However it can precede a noun Not adjacency requirement

‫ال أحدٌ في الشارع‬ ‫ = ما‬Maa

‫ما لعب محمد في الشارع‬

Tense less

‫ = لم‬lam

‫"ما يفعل هلل بعذابكم إن‬ "‫شكرتم‬ ‫لم يلعب محمد في الشارع‬

Past tense

‫ = لن‬lan

‫لن يلعب محمد في الشارع‬

Future tense

‫ = ليس‬laisa

‫ليس البيت كبيرا‬

Present tense

Adjacency requirement Adjacency requirement Nominal sentences

‫ = ليست‬Laisat

‫ليست الحديقة كبيرة‬

Present tense

Nominal sentences

B. English negative particles. Negative device

Example

The usage

Not-negator

I do not play piano

Negative-Not is attached to the preceding operator

N-negator: No/Never/Neither/Nor/ None/ Nodody….

Negative Affixes : de/dis/un/in/mis/less

- He has no fever or headache - None of my friends have a car My new food processer is useless

Insert the determiner No before the noun phrase can be formed by adding the affix to the positive form of a word

The scope of the study This paper focuses on investigating the system of negation in English and Arabic in order to find differences and similarities. The analysis is based on the perspective of syntactic and semantic behavior. To achieve this objective the data are taken from some grammar books and from other linguistics studies. Moreover, descriptive methodology is selected to compare and contrast the negation system in English and Arabic.

Analysis and Discussion of the findings In this section examples from grammar books and other studies are provided, followed by comments about their syntactic and semantic behavior.

1-Negation in Arabic El-Hassan (1990, as cited in AMa'aitah,2016)) points out that Arabic negative devices negate whatever come after them and they indicate not only negation but time. The particle La ‫ ال‬is considered to be a lexical base of negation and it is not inflected for tense unless it is attached to (M/N ) as in lam ‫ لم‬/ lan ‫ لن‬. La is the most common Arabic negative device. It is used with the imperative present tense. It is used immediately before the verb. By way of illustration, consider the examples below. 1-‫ال تأكل في الصف‬ Do not eat in the classroom.

However, it can be used with ‫ سوف‬to negate future ‫ سوف ال تقود‬as it is hinted at examples (2/3) blow. Another feature of ‫ ال‬is that, it could come with noun, but this noun should be indefinite, singular and accusative as in example (4). For more clarification, see these examples: 2- ‫ال تقود المركبة إلى عملك‬ I do not dive the car to work. 3- ‫ ( سوف ال تقود المركبة إلى عملك‬to negate future) You will not drive the car to work. 4- ‫ ( ال إله إال هللا‬precedes the indefinite noun ) There is no god but God

‫ ما‬plays different functions in Arabic language some of these functions are nouns while others are particles ( e.g. Interrogative function, Pronominal function, Adverbial, negative…etc) as cited in the website (www.learnarabiconline.com). For instance, ‫ ما‬is used to negate the perfect (past tense) verb. 1- ‫ما أنهيت طعام الغداء‬ I did not finish my lunch.

However, the examples below indicate that even in negation ‫ ما‬has different function it can be used to negate different purposes. As we can see in the coming examples, the imperfect verb follows ‫ ما‬and it is used for rhetorical considerations. 2- ‫قل ما أسئلكم عليه من أجر‬ Say: I do not ask you for a reward for it.

‫ ما‬in the below example works like the particle ‫ ليس‬since it occurs in nominal sentence not after a verb. It also leaves the predicate accusative. 3- ‫ما هذا بشرا‬ This is not a man.

‫ لم‬is used to negate the action in past tense, however, it is followed by the present form of the verb and it assigns jussive mood to the verb. Therefore, it must occur in the position immediately preceding the verb. By way of explanation, let us consider this example.

‫لم أرتكب خطأ‬ I did not make any mistakes

‫ لن‬is like ‫ لم‬requires adjacency between the device and the verb and it also assigns some features to the verb call subjunctive mood. ‫ لن‬is used to express negation in the future. ‫لن يذهب الطالب إلى المدرسة‬ The students will not go to school.

‫ ليس‬is a complex particle unlike other Arabic negative particles as it has a negation and agreement feature. It shows agreement with subject in number, gender and person while negating the nominal sentence. To put this differently, ‫ ليس‬acts like a host for agreement morphology and that is why verb is unnecessary. Nevertheless, ‫ ليس‬is a morphologically complex device as it consists of two parts La ( negative part) and aysa ( copular element particle) . Returning back to agreement, it can be conjugated for each person depending on what you are negating. The table and examples below summarize this idea as cited in the website (http://arabic.desert-sky.net).

SG

1P

2M

2F

3M

3F

‫لست‬ lastu

‫لست‬ lasta ‫لستما‬ lastumaa ‫لستم‬ lastum

‫لست‬ Lasti ‫لستما‬ Lastumaa ‫لستن‬ Lastunna

‫ليس‬ laysa ‫ليسا‬ laysaa ‫ليسوا‬ laysuu

‫ليست‬ laysat ‫ليستا‬ laysataa ‫لسن‬ lasna

DU PL

‫لسنا‬ lasnaa

1P (1st person)/ 2M/F (2nd person male/female)/ 3M/F (3rd person male/female)

1- ‫ ليست البطة كبيرة‬/ The duck is not big 2- ‫ليس الطالب نشيط‬/ The boy is not a hard working.

‫ ليس‬can also be switching with the noun. For more clarification, let us consider this example. 3- ‫ ليس الكتاب قديما‬/ ‫الكتاب ليس قديما‬

However, this agreement can be partial if the subject is definite and we start with ‫ ليس‬as in the examples below: 4- ‫ليست الطالبات مجتهدات‬ 5- ‫الطالبات لسن مجتهدات‬

1.2- Implicit negation in Arabic Implicit negation can be understood from the linguistic context of the sentence or spoken context without referring to any negative particle (al-Ghazalli, 2013).However it could be applied by the use of interrogative. By way of illustration, let us consider the following sentence. 1- ‫من قال أن عمر هنا ؟‬ Who said that Omar is here? (The interrogative example holds the sense that no one has said so.) 2- ‫لو رأيت محمد لعاتبته‬ If I saw Mohammed I would admonished him. (The conditional sentence here carries the sense that I did not see Mohammed.)

In addition to these two situations that carries implicit negation, there is a lexical device of implicit negation. This device is ‫ قلما‬qallama which carries the sense of rarely or hardly. By way of explanation, let us consider this example where ‫ قلما‬caries the sense that the action of raining is, mainly, not done 3- ‫تمطر في الصيف‬ ‫قلما‬ ُ It rarely rains in summer.

Adding to what has been said so far, the lexical unit ‫ فقط‬faqat, only, also holds the negative sense. 4- ‫شربتُ ماء فقط‬ I only drank water.( nothing else)

1.3- Double negation in Arabic The double negation is a nonstandard form where we use two negative particles for emphasis and sometimes it is used for positive because two negatives cancel each other and it gives positive. In Arabic language double negation is mostly used in colloquial Arabic. 1- ‫ ( ال استطيع أن ال أنام‬it means I want to sleep) I cannot not sleep 2- ‫( ما أكلت وال شي‬the expression is used in Jordanian colloquial) I did not eat nothing.

1.4- Negation by Intonation in Arabic Ayub ( 1965, as cited in AMa'aitah, 2016) states that intonation is considered to be one of the negative particles as it changes the mood of sentence from state to another. Therefore, he sees intonation as listened negative particle. Consider the following examples: "‫"أتجادلونني في أسماء سميتموها انتم وآبائكم ما أنزل هللا بها من سلطان‬ (Dispute you with me over names which you have devised you and your fathers,–without authority from Allah?) "‫"قل هل يستوي الذين يعلمون والذين ال يعلمون‬ )Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?)

As it hinted above these examples seem to be interrogated as a first reading, however, they are a negative sentence with an intonation which do not require answers.

2- Negation in English Negation is more common in spoken language than in writing text because we can use face to face negative form to make what to say less direct. In English, negative markers can be divided into three groups. Not- negator, N-negator or Nonegator and negative affixes (www.ln.edu.hk). In addition, we can negate through lexical items that carries negative meaning, such as polarity items (e.g. any) and inherent negatives (e.g. fail). English sentence can be negated through verb phrase( do not play piano), through noun phrase (I have no time) or through adjective phrase ( John is not tall). Turning back to Not-negator, we can say it is the most used markers, however, it cannot be placed anywhere. We form a negative statement with not or n’t after be, modal and auxiliary verbs. Let us consider these examples as ways of explanation: 1- They are not German. 2- I did not call Sarah yesterday. 3- She could not fix the pipe.

As it hinted at the example (1), Not negates through adjective phrase. Here it comes after the verb (to be) but it places next to the word or phrase it modifies.

In example (2), Not negates through verb phrase and it is negating the action of calling. As it can be seen in this example, it comes before non-finite verb (verb without tense) and after the finite auxiliary verb ( auxiliary with tense ). It is worth noting that the scope of negation may affect more than one part and causes semantic ambiguity and this is due to intonation and stress. By way of illustration, let us discuss again example (2) with different implications: I did not call Sarah yesterday. (it could mean I write a letter not phoning her) I did not call Sarah yesterday. (it could mean I phone someone else rather than Sarah) I did not call Sarah yesterday. (it could mean I called her today)

Regarding example (3), Not negates the modal auxiliary verb (could) and it also places before non-definite verb and after a modal auxiliary definite verb. However, ambiguity might arise here in interpretation the third example. One possible interpretation is that Not negates the ability (could not). The other possibility is that Not negates the action VP (not fix the pipe). Vp Mp Ng→ VP

M V

NG

NP

Det

N

N-negator or No- negator in English sentence occurs by inserting the determiner No in front of the noun phrase. It can be also occurred by using indefinite pronouns such as (no one, nobody, none). Or through adverb never which places before main verb and it does not need an auxiliary verb. These particles are mostly negating statement. For more clarification examine these examples:

1- There are no storms in the weather forecast. 2- She bought no one a present. 3- None of the students were able to finish the exam. (it follows by a definite article) 4- He never sings.

It is worth mentioning that “No” and “Not” can have different implied meaning, though, they might be interchangeable. The example below indicates the idea of difference: 4- She is not a mother. 5- She is no mother.

In example (4), it means that she is not being a mother yet, does not have any son or daughter. Whereas in example (5), it means she is a mother of someone, but she does not practice the role of mother (www.ln.edu.hk). Another interesting contrasting point between these two markers is that “No” is more emphatic than “Not”. For example: 6- I have no money. ( more emphatic) 7- I do not have money.

Negative affixes occur by adding a suitable affix to the word so the meaning of that word is revised. Nonetheless, selecting the appropriate affix is a problematic part in negative affixes. It means that the initial letter of any word might determine the type of prefix. Accordingly, when the word begins with the letter m or p the prefix im tends to be the negative affix, whereas, words begin with re the prefix ir is often used See these examples cited by (www.ln.edu.hk): Polite – Impolite Normal – Abnormal Literate – Illiterate Regular – Irregular Expensive – Inexpensive Happy - Unhappy Governmental organizations – Non-governmental organizations Agree – Disagree Understanding – Misunderstanding Use – Useless

As it is hinted at the examples above all negative affixes are prefixes except for Less. This prefix comes originally from the old English words leas, meaning “without” (Duzganova, 2006) . One more interesting thing about affixes, is that they affect the lexical word itself and do not affect the syntactic structure. It is also worth mentioning, using negative affixes in adjective is better than using negative particles. e.g It was not an equal fight → It was unequal fight.

2.2- Implicit negation in English (Polarity items and inherent negative) There some lexis that are negative in their meaning, but not in their form. One of these lexis is the inherent negatives which occur through lexical elements rather than syntactic ones. Moreover the adverbs ( rarely, any) and the quantifier few and little are another example of inherent negatives. Let us consider these examples for more clarification: 1- We lack four brushes. (we do not have four brushes) 2- These elements were excluded. (these elements are not included) 3- I rarely get any appreciation in turn of my hard work. (adverbial words negate receiving any reword for doing such a work.) 4- She has few friends ( It means not enough)

2.3- Double negation in English Double negation can be found in written and spoken English language and it is mostly used for emphatic purpose (Johnson,2013). A double negative is used to mean the opposite of what is being said. As indicated in the examples below, negative+ negative = positive (WordReference.com, 2012) 1- I do not want nothing ( it means you need something) 2- The picnic was not uninteresting.

However, it may cause confusion for listener as we do not know whether the speaker meant to use the double negative for emphasis or just lends a simple negation. In addition, it may be ungrammatical expressions as they are mostly used in colloquial English. As in the example below.

3- There is not nothing we can do. ( it means there is something we can do) 4- Do nothing ever.

2.4-Tag question and intonation Intonation and stress play a great role in negation system. For example, Tag questions use the intonation in order to get an opinion about something. It is appended to a statement, so if the statement is affirmative the tag question will be negative and vice versa. Let consider these examples below: 1-There are many criminals in our village, aren’t there? 2- Colleges should provide free meals for students, shouldn’t they? 3- Pregnanc...