AN OVERVIEW OF NEGATIVE MARKERS IN ENGLISH AND ALBANIAN

Abstract

Negative sentences are the opposite of positive ones; they negate the action expressed in positive clauses by using negative markers and/or negative words. English and Albanian are two languages in which negation is structured and expressed in different ways, although the negative markers are more or less the same. However, even though they may seem similar and corresponding to each other in both languages, they are used in different structures and have different scope. This paper gives a description and comparison of negative markers in English and Albanian. Their use and structure is illustrated by various examples to support the description. Based on this overview, it can be concluded that both English and Albanian have negative particles functioning as negative markers, as well as negative words. However, these negative markers and negative words do not express negation in the same way in these two languages. The simplest difference is that English has only one negative marker of verbal negation – not; while Albanian has several negative markers: nuk/s’ to mark primary as well as secondary verbal negation, mos to mark verbal negation in the indicative, subjunctive, conditional and imperative mood; jo is used to mark both sentential and constituent negation; as- as a negative particle marks both sentential and constituent negation and can be accompanied by one of the verbal negative markers nuk /s’. Even though there is a correspondence of not and nuk /s’ to mark verbal negation, there is a misbalance of negative markers and their uses in both languages. A further difference, and a greater one is the use of n-words or negative polarity items (NPIs). English as a single negation language forms negation by using negative verbs with NPI, or by using n-words as absolute negators. For instance, (1) Ben didn’t see anybody vs. (2) Ben saw nobody. In sentence (1) there is a negative verb which cannot be followed or preceded by an n-word, therefore the NPI anybody is used, while in sentence (2) there is a positive verb which allows the use of an n-word such as nobody. On the other hand, in Albanian, n-words such as negative adverbs and negative pronouns are only used accompanied by the verbal marker nuk/s’, thus creating negative concord as in the example: Askush nuk tha asgjë. In this sentence there are three negative words – askush, nuk, asgjë- which contribute to one semantic meaning. As far as conjunctions are concerned, most of them correspond in both languages in both structure and meaning. Similarly, prefixes share similar properties in English and Albanian, they are attached to adjectives, verbs or nouns to express negation, opposition, reversative or removing ideas. English also has a negative suffix –less, while Albanian has no negative suffixes, which could be considered as a slight difference.