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The Syntactic phenomenon of Negation in the French language
The study of negation in natural languages is a complex area of research that involves several aspects of language study, both descriptive and theoretical. This essay's primary aim is to define the syntactic phenomenon of negation in the French language, which will be examined in the first paragraph, by introducing a general definition of the phenomenon, specifically in the language under discussion, presenting its general characteristics and the types that have been identified following numerous research. The paper will then discuss about the three main types of negation identified by Riegel, Pellat and Rioul in the book “Grammaire méthodique du français” (2009). In the second paragraph, the paper will analyse the first type of negation, total (or sentence) negation and the position of its negative elements. It will then discuss partial negation, the second type, with particular attention to the position of negative adverbs, pronouns and determiners. The third paragraph will examine the third type, restrictive or exceptive negation. The negation system in French has two dimensions: a semantic dimension and a syntactic dimension. On one hand, it is possible to express an idea of negation using semantic negation particles, such as prefixes ( in -, dé -...) (1a) or lexical items ( faux ‘false’ , nier ‘deny’, etc) (1b-c), while keeping a positive sentence form.
a. Elle est d’ une in imaginable beauté. She be-PRS.3.SG of a NEG-imaginably beauty ‘She is an unimaginably beautiful woman.’ b. Il est faux de dire ça. It be-PRS.3.SG wrong of say-INF this ‘It is wrong to say that.’ c. L’ élève a tout nié. The student have-PRS.3.SG everything deny-PTCP ‘The student denied everything.’
On the other hand, the elements that are part of the syntactic system of negation allow the construction of a negative sentence. This paper will only look at the syntactic system of negation. In French, negation is based on the association of two elements. The first is the term ne, which is constant for all negations, and the second element varies according to the type of negation, belonging to a set that in French grammar is called forclusif (forclusive) , the most common being pas (2a), therefore several other elements are possible: adverbs (2b) ne... pas/point , jamais , plus, guère, aucunement, nullement, nulle part ; indefinite pronouns (2c) aucun, nul, personne, rien ; indefinite determiners aucun, nul (2d).
a- Je ne dors pas. I NEG sleep-PRS.1.SG not ‘I don’t sleep.’ b- Je ne parle jamais anglais. I NEG speak-PRS.1.SG never English ‘I never speak English.’ c- Je ne vois personne. I NEG see-PRS.1.SG nobody ‘I see nobody.’ d- Je n’ écoute aucune musique. I NEG listen-PRS.1.SG any music ‘I don’t listen to any music.’ There are therefore several kinds of negation. The function of negation is to oppose the positive form of a sentence and it varies between language levels and spoken and written language. For example, in spoken language, the word ne in ne...pas is often omitted, whereas in written language it is obligatory. The phenomenon of negation in spoken French is extremely interesting but would require more specific research, so this paper will focus only on the written language of standard French. In the book “Grammaire méthodique du français” (2009) by Riegel, Pellat and Rioul, they present an analysis of negation in French in which they identify three main types of negation: total (or sentence) negation, which concerns the entire proposition and is marked by pas or point , partial negation, which concerns only part of the sentence and the exceptive negation, namely ne...que , which means ‘only’.
A first observation that can be made is that the position of pas over the verb varies depending on whether the latter is conjugated or not and whether it is simple or compound verb. First, in French there is a distinction between conjugated and infinitive verbs, which implies that the position of the negation adverb pas in the former case is after the conjugated verb (6a) and before the infinitive one (6b).
a. Marie n’ aime pas Pierre. Marie NEG like-PRS.1.SG not Pierre. ‘Marie doesn’t like Pierre.’ b. Ne pas aimer la lecture rend difficile étudier la litterature. NEG not like-INF the reading make-PRS.3.SG difficult study-INF the literature ‘Not liking reading makes it difficult to study literature.’ Negation of simple tenses is made by placing the clitic ne before and pas after the verb, using n’ instead of ne when the words that follow begin with a vowel (7a) or a silent h (7b) ( habiter ‘live’ , hébérger ‘accommodate’). When the verbs are reflexive in simple tenses, ne is placed before the reflexive pronoun and pas after the reflexive verb.
a. Il n’ aime pas Luisa. He NEG love-PRS.3.SG not Luisa ‘He doesn’t like Luisa.’ b. Je ne me reveille pas. I NEG myself wake-PRS.1.SG not ‘I don’t wake up.’ For compound verbs, it is the auxiliary ( avoir ‘to have got’ and être ‘to be’ ) that must precede the negation (8a-c).
a. Je n’ ai pas compris. I NEG have-PRS.1.SG not understand-PTCP ‘I didn’t understand.’ b. *Je ne pas ai compris. I NEG not have-PRS.1.SG understand-PTCP
c. Tu n’ es pas venu. You NEG be-PRS.2.SG not come-PTCP ‘You didn’t come.’ d. *Tu ne pas es venu. You NEG not be-PRS.2.SG come-PTCP Therefore, the behaviour of the auxiliary, at least in its inflected form, is similar to the behaviour of the verb, because it is placed before pas. The position of ne and pas with reflexive verbs in compound tenses is the same as for simple tenses. Concerning the negation of the infinitive, ne pas is placed before the infinitive (9a), when there is a pronoun (9b) it follows ne pas , and with compound verbs, the behaviour of the auxiliary in its infinitive form is like an auxiliary when it precedes the negation (9c) but like a verb (infinitive) when it follows it (9d).
a. Je dit de ne pas parler. I. say-PRS.1.SG of NEG not speak-INF ‘I say not to speak.’ b. Je dit de ne pas le dire. I say-PRS.1.SG of NEG not it say-INF ‘I say not to say it.’ c. N’ avoir pas eu une enfance heureuse. NEG have-INF not have-PTCP a childhood happy ‘Not having had a happy childhood.’ d. Ne pas avoir eu une enfance heureuse. NEG not have-INF have-PTCP a childhood happy ‘Not having had a happy childhood.’ Finally, in total negation, it is possible the omission with particular verbs and constructions. As I mentioned before, in spoken informal French it is frequent to omit the ne and still convey a negative meaning, but there is also the possibility to omit the pas in literary style, this structure is called ne littéraire (literary ne ). This omission of pas can occur in formal and written French with verbs such as savoir ‘to know’ (10a) , pouvoir ‘can’ (10b) , oser ‘to dare’ and cesser ‘to cease’ when they are accompanied by an infinitive, and with specific constructions such as si- clauses (10c), hypothetical (10d) and rhetorical questions (10e).
We consider that the opposition between negative sentences containing the forclusif pas and negative sentences containing a forclusif other than pas is based on a difference related to the degree of complexity of their logical structure. The forclusif s other than pas convey much more strongly particularised content so that the proposition underlying the sentence necessarily has a more complex logical structure. This second negation marker other than pas , explicitly identifies the constituent targeted by the negation and takes the place of the positive constituent that is affected by the negation (12a-b): a negative pronoun represents the negation of a nominal group (13a- b), a negative determiner indicates the absence or denial of the existence of the nominal group referent (null quantification) (14a-b) and a time or place complement can be negated by a prepositional group containing a negative term or by a negative adverb (15a-b).
a. Je l’ ai dit a quelqu’ un. I it have-PRS.1.SG say-PTCP to some one ‘I told somebody.’ b. Je ne l’ ai dit a personne. I NEG it have-PRS.1.SG say-PTCP to nobody ‘I told nobody.’
a. Quelqu’ un est venu. Some one be-PRS.3.SG come-PTCP ‘Someone came.’ b. Personne n' est venu. Nobody NEG be-PRS.3.SG come-PTCP ‘Nobody came.’
a. Il a lu un livre. He avoir-PRS.3.SG read-PTCP a book ‘He read a book.’ b. Il n' a lu aucun livre. He NEG avoir-PRS.3.SG read-PTCP no book He didn’t read any book.’
a. Il est (partout/ quelque part).
He be-PRS.3.SG (everywhere/ somewhere) ‘He’s (everywhere somewhere).’ b. Il n’ est nulle part. He NEG be-PRS.3.SG no where ‘He’s nowhere.’ So, to identify whether the negation is partial, we have to imagine the opposite positive sentence and if it is possible to identify the part that is negated, then the negation can be considered partial. This section will then analyse the negation markers of the partial negation, with regard to their distribution in relation to verbs and auxiliaries according to the distinction between infinitive mode and conjugated time, and their possible combination. Concerning the position of jamais, plus and guère (16a-c), they usually occur immediately after the verb in simple tenses and between the auxiliary and the verb in compound tenses, following the rule of the position of pas. They typically precede infinitive verbs, but they can also follow the verb (17a-b).
a. Il n’ a jamais visité Paris. He NEG avoir-PRS.3.SG never visit-PTCP Paris ‘He never visisted Paris.’ b. Je ne mange plus là. I NEG eat-PRS.1.SG anymore there I don’t eat there anymore.’ c. Il ne prend guère le train. He NEG take-PRS.3.SG ever the train ‘He hardly ever takes the train.’
a. Elle ne prend guère le metro. She NEG take-PRS.3.SG ever the metro ‘She hardly ever takes the metro.’ b. Elle ne prend le metro guère. She NEG take-PRS.3.SG the metro ever ‘She hardly ever takes the metro.’ Jamais can also be found at the beginning of the sentence, unlike guère and plus , the only exception for plus is when it accompanies jamais (18a).
or rien , can be done and generates an interpretation of double negation. Indeed, the accumulation of two negations can cancel each other out. Thus, the sentences (21a-c), will have a positive interpretation and could be considered equivalent to the sentences presented respectively (21d-f).
a. Je n' ai pas aimé aucun film. I NEG have-PRS.1.SG not love-PTCP no film ‘I loved a film.’ b. Tu n' as pas vu personne. You. NEG have-PRS.2.SG not see-PTCP none ‘You saw someone.’ c. Il n' a pas rien fait. He NEG have-PRS.3.SG not nothing do-PTCP ‘He did something.’ d. J’ ai aimé un film. I have-PRS.1.SG love-PTCP a film ‘I loved a film.’ e. Tu as vu quelqu' un. You have-PRS.2.SG see-PTCP some one ‘You saw someone.’ f. Il a fait quelque chose. He have-PRS.3.SG do-PTCP some thing ‘He did something.’ Therefore, it is not acceptable, according to the current standard, to construct a sentence in which both a term expressing total negation, such as pas , and a term expressing partial negation, appear together while maintaining the negative meaning of the sentence. In addition, since the terms of the partial negation fulfil different syntactic functions, they can be combined with each other without altering the negative interpretation of the sentence, so they can combine freely with each other (22a-d).
a. Personne n’ a jamais rien dit nulle part. None NEG have-PRS.3.SG never nothing say-PTPC no where ‘None has ever said anything anywhere.’
b. * Personne n’ a pas rien dit. None NEG have-PRS.3.SG not nothing say-PTPC ‘None has ever said anything.’ c. Personne ne m’ écoute. Nobody NEG self listen-PRS.3.SG ‘Nobody listens to me.’ d. Rien ne m’ aide à guerir. Nothing NEG self help-PRS.3.SG to heal-INF ‘Nothing helps me to heal.’ Finally, partial negation forclusifs can appear in contexts that are not directly negative. The same is not true for the forclusifs of total negation. For the former to be used in a proposition, it is necessary and sufficient that the proposition is not positive. (23a-b)
a. Qui a jamais rencontré personne ici? Who have-PRS.3.SG never meet-PTCP none here ‘Who’s ever seen anyone here?’ b. Aucun film dans le cinema ne m’ intéresse. No film in the cinema NEG self interest-PRS.3.SG ‘I am not interested in any film in the cinema.’ Finally, there is the exceptive or restrictive negation expressed by the locution ne... que (24a), which interpretation corresponds to the English “only”.
a. Je n ’ ai étudié q ue quatre chapitres de ce livre. I NEG have-PRS.1.SG study-INF that four chapters of this book ‘I only read four chapters of this book.’ This type of negation is not a negation like the others, the sentence “ Il ne veut que travailler ” (He only wants to work) corresponds to the affirmative sentence “ Il veut seulement travailler ” (He only want to work). Here the negation excludes, as the name of the negation suggests, the verb “ travailler ” (to work) from the elements envisaged by the speaker.
The first negation that has been analysed is total negation, the construction of which occurs by associating the clitic ne with the adverbs pas or point. This first type corresponds to the most logical and direct structure of negation, in which the whole sentence undergoes this phenomenon. Afterwards, the position of negative markers was analysed according to the type of sentence and the form in which the verb in the sentence is used. The second type of negation discussed is partial negation, whose level of complexity in the negative structure of the sentence increases compared to the previous one. In fact, as was argued in the paper, only part of the sentence is negated through the negative structure, consisting of the clitic ne and another element called forclusif. The analysis of these two types of negation could go much further in detail, but in this paper the aim has been to present the main features that characterise and distinguish them, being aware that the border between these two phenomena is not straightforward and therefore exceptions and cases may vary. Finally, we dealt with restrictive negation, which is not a negation like the others since the meaning that this structure composed of ne...que attributes to the sentence is 'only'. To conclude, it is important to be aware that negation is an extremely widespread phenomenon and essential for the communication between interlocutors, and like language itself, it has many exceptions and undergoes numerous modifications and changes over time, which is why the area of research concerning it is in an ongoing state of development.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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