Abstract

The goal of the present article is a syntactic description of different types of negation in German. To be more precise, this article deals with sentential negation, constituent negation, and two types of contrastive negation. First, several tests are introduced to differentiate between sentential, constituent, and contrastive negation. Then, the different types of negation will be analyzed. While it is generally assumed in the literature that sentential negation in German is located directly above the VP, this article argues that there are reasons to believe that sentential negation is located in a higher position in-between tense and the VP. Additionally, it will be proposed that constituent negation is not a type of negation on its own right, but a special instance of sentential negation taking scope inside of a propositional expression which is embedded in a clause. Concerning contrastive negation, data will be presented suggesting that it comes in two flavors: contrastive constituent negation and contrastive sentential negation. It is argued that with contrastive constituent negation the whole negated constituent is moved into a position above tense, while with contrastive sentential negation there is no movement of a constituent, but a structurally high position for this kind of negation taking wide scope.