La négation phrastique et les indéfinis négatifs en créole vincentien

Abstract

In this study we examine the co-occurrence or preclusion of negative words (n-words) with sentential negation in Vincentian Creole which has drawn much of its lexicon from English. In this creole, sentential negation occurs preverbally and may combine optionally with n-words like the negative indefinite nobadi ‘nobody’, when they are in subject position. In other syntactic environments, the n-word obligatorily triggers sentential negation, such that the co-occurrence of sentential negation and n-words yields a single negative interpretation. Vincentian Creole therefore participates in Negative Concord (as treated by Labov 1972 and Giannakidou 2000; 2006, among others. We posit that Vincentian Creole is a non-strict negative concord language given that n-words appearing as subjects do not systematically licence sentential negation whereas post-verbal n-words do.