Non-linearity of the Scope of Negation: Evidence from Northwest Chinese Dialects

The scope of negation has been hotly debated among Chinese linguists. Some researchers hold that it is determined by the focus of the sentence, while others maintain that the scope of negation is separable from the focus and is restricted to the elements following the negator. However, neither account can explain the fact that the elements preceding the negator fall within the scope of negation in Northwest Chinese dialects. Based on the hierarchical nature of language structures, this article proposes that the scope of negation is the domain of the light verb projection, independent of the focus of a sentence. This analysis not only reveals one of the essential properties of negation, but also provides a good account of the variation of word orders in negation across languages and dialects.