Meeting time: TuTh 3:30-5pm, KCB 201

Instructor: Peter Alrenga
Email: palrenga@bu.edu (preferred)
Phone: (617) 353-6221
Office: 621 Commonwealth Ave., Rm. 110
Office Hrs: Tu 5-6pm; W 10:30am-11:30am; F 12-1pm (and by appointment)

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250 (Foundations of Language)

Course Description:  In this course, we will survey some of the main empirical findings and theoretical results concerning the expression of negation in natural language.  After an initial overview of the various strategies employed by the world’s languages for expressing negation, we will investigate the morphosyntax of negation, both in English and the Romance languages.  Next, we will turn our attention to the restricted distribution of so-called negative polarity items (compare I haven’t spoken to her in weeks to *I have spoken to her in weeks).  A closely related phenomenon is negative concord, whereby multiple negative elements combine to yield just one semantic negation (consider the song lyrics I can’t get no satisfaction and We don’t need no education / We don’t need no thought control).  In the final part of the course, we will explore some issues in the lexical semantics of negation, such as antynomy (compare John is five feet tall to *John is five feet short) and affixal negation (witness the subtle contrasts between inhuman vs. unhuman vs. nonhuman).

Reading:  There is no textbook for this course.  Individual reading assignments will be distributed to students, either as PDFs available from the course website, or in hard copy.  The course readings will comprise a mixture of topical overviews and original research articles.  Wherever possible, readings have been chosen that presuppose relatively little background knowledge in linguistic theory.

Attendance & Participation: Regular attendance and participation is expected, and will constitute 10% of your overall grade.

Exams: There will be two take-home exams.  The first will be distributed on Thursday, February 18th, and will be due on Thursday, February 25th.  The second will be distributed on Tuesday, April 27th, and will be due on Tuesday, May 4th.  Each exam will constitute 15% of your overall grade.

Language Description Project: Throughout the semester you will investigate the expression of negation in a particular language (other than standard American English).  The choice of language is entirely up to you, but it should be one for which you have access to native speaker intuitions, either through your own command of the language, or through your parents/family members, your friends, etc.

You will be responsible for preparing two 3-5 page summaries of the grammar of negation in your language.  These will be primarily descriptive, and are intended for you to discover how the phenomenon covered in our lectures and readings are manifested in your chosen language.  (More detailed instructions and suggestions about the language descriptions will be provided to you as the semester proceeds.)  The first of these will be due on Tuesday, February 9th, while the second will be due on Thursday, March 25th.  Each language description will constitute 20% of your overall grade.

After consulting with me, you will choose one of these descriptions to develop further for your final project, which will be a 15-20 minute in-class presentation about some aspects(s) of the grammar of negation in your chosen language.  These presentations will occur during the final two weeks of the course.  The presentation will also constitute 20% of your overall grade.