The interaction of standard negation in clauses of substitution: a typological account

Abstract

This paper explores clauses of substitution (e.g. instead of relaxing on the beach, he went to a concert) in a sample of forty-six languages. It is shown that clauses of substitution marked with monofunctional conjunctions or monofunctional converbs may not occur with standard negative markers. Clauses of substitution appearing with polyfunctional conjunctions or polyfunctional converbs may occur with obligatory standard negative markers. In these cases, negation shows a negative import as an effect of compositional interpretation. Interestingly, there are languages in which clauses of substitution marked with monofunctional clause-linking devices may occur with optional negative markers. In this scenario, the presence or absence of the negative marker does not change the adverbial relation holding between clauses. Instead, it seems to have an expressive- evaluative layer of semantic interpretation. When the negative marker is present in the clause of substitution, it indicates that the situation was not surprising. When the negative marker is absent, the situation must be understood as surprising.