Negation in the history of English: Middle English to the present day

Negation is one of my major research areas. I have been working on various aspects of English negation for the past 35 years, and published books and articles.

Books

Negative Constructions in Middle English (Kyushu University Press, 2001) is based on my research from 1989 to 2001 and discusses the historical development of English negative constructions with a focus on the Middle English period (1100-1500). The major part of this book examines the historical shift from the form ne alone through ne not to not and various linguistic conditions that affected their choice. It also discusses negative contraction as found in nis (for ne is), nolde (for ne wolde), etc. The contrast between simple and multiple negation is also a major topic discussed in this book. For further details, see the page of this book.

Verbs of Implicit Negation and their Complements in the History of English (John Benjamins, 2010) is slightly different from the above. The focus of this book is on the historical development of verb complementation rather than negation, but it deals with a group of verbs of implicit negation, i.e. forbid, refuse, forbear, avoid, prohibit, prevent, hinder, refrain, fear, doubt, deny. The data derive from the Oxford English Dictionary quotation base. The period covered is mainly from Late Middle English to the present day. For further details, see the page of this book.

Aspects of English Negation (John Benjamins, 2005) is a book edited by Yoko Iyeiri. It includes eleven articles all discussing negation in English, from Old English to the present-day. It also includes a few articles on negation in contemporary English dialects. The book comprises the historical part and contemporary part. For details, see the page of this book.

Negative constructions in Middle English

Apart from the above books, I have published a number of papers and book chapters on negation in English. Those with a focus on Middle English include:

The two articles published in 2010 use negative constructions as a scale with which to judge the date and style of English.

Also, the following paper, whose title does not reveal any hints of negation, include some discussion on English negative constructions among other linguistic features examined in this study. Its PDF is downloadable from its page.

Negative constructions in the Modern period

I have also worked on negation in the Modern period. Some of my publications discuss negative constructions in particular authors’ writings. Also, the expansion of the auxiliary do in negative constructions is a major topic in this period.

Negation and ideology

This is not a major field of mine, but I have written a paper on how people perceived multiple negation in the Modern period.

Non-assertive forms such as any

Non-assertive forms such as any and ever underwent a gradual development from the Late Middle English period onwards. As these forms are strongly related to negation, I have been working on them and have published some papers in this field as well.

I have also published a paper in Japanese on the use of any in Caxton’s Paris and Vienne.