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Some aspects of negation in English

Paul-Gabriel Sandu

pp. 345-360

Abstract

I introduce a formal language called the language of informational independence (IL-language, for short) that extends an ordinary first-order language in a natural way. This language is interpreted in terms of semantical games of imperfect information. In this language, one can define two negations: (i) strong or dual negation, and (ii) weak or contradictory negation. The latter negation, unlike the former, can occur only sentence-initially. Then I argue that, to a certain extent, the two negations match the distinction existing in natural languages between sentential and constituent negation. As a corollary, I derive the fact that there are no mechanical rules for forming the contradictory negation of an English sentence.

Publication details

Published in:

(1994) Synthese 99 (3).

Pages: 345-360

DOI: 10.1007/BF01063993

Full citation:

Sandu Paul-Gabriel (1994) „Some aspects of negation in English“. Synthese 99 (3), 345–360.