Abstract
This chapter illustrates how syncretisms can be used as a tool to diagnose hidden structure inside what is usually considered an indivisible unit, i.e. a negative marker. Based on semantic, scopal, stacking, and functional properties of negative markers, it is proposed that negative markers can be classified in four groups: scalar quantity markers, classifier markers, focus markers, and tense markers. A study of these four different types of markers in a typological sample shows that meaningful syncretism patterns can be detected. If the markers are ordered in such a way that syncretic markers are contiguous and that no ABA patterns arise, then the derived sequence reflects the natural semantic scope of negation, i.e. from wide to narrow scope or from narrow to wide. This result leads to a decomposition of a negative marker into five syntactico-semantic features, i.e. Neg, Q, Class, Foc, and T.
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