The Structure of Dagbani Sentential Negation*

Abstract

AbstractThe goal of this paper is to provide an account of the syntactic expression of sentential negation in Dagbani, a Mabia, Niger‐Congo language of West Africa. I show that Dagbani employs two strategies for the marking of sentential negation: negative markers/particles and negative verbs. The overtly expressed negative markers are kù/bì and dì, used for negating declaratives and imperatives, respectively. Besides, the inherently negative verb ká is used to negate possessive‐locative‐existential constructions. The paper further demonstrates that there is an incompatibility between the negative marker and the imperative morpheme in Dagbani and attempts to account for this empirical fact. In line with recent probe‐based Minimalist account of negation, I assume that the negative markers (heads) carry a [iNeg] feature, which is interpretable, and its interpretation triggers a negative polarity of the clause. I further offer a formal account for the incompatibility between the imperative negation marker dì and the imperative morpheme.