Microvariation in French Negation Markers: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the evolution of French negation markers, focusing on certain facts connected to negation markers and the left periphery which have been too often neglected and sometimes misinterpreted in the literature on historical change. First, it illustrates how the history of the absence of ne in certain clauses identified in the lower CP domain must be distinguished from the deletion of the discontinuous IP negation marker ne which developed in certain morphosyntactic surroundings in spoken French. Second, it explores how semantic and syntactic factors may explain the absence of ne in interrogative clauses in certain grammars of French. Most importantly, the chapter emphasizes the fact that the realization of French negation from a diachronic perspective has never been a homogeneous phenomenon. Just as contemporary grammars of French are numerous and varied, diachronic grammars of French were far from the homogeneous picture too often presented in many studies, even those reporting on the oral form of the language in the past. Such grammars, just like contemporary grammars of French, also displayed microvariation. Thus, French negation had different realizations in diachronic grammars of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.