SCC Sign Language Linguistics Project

Sentential negation strategies

Negative particles before or after the verb are the most common way of encoding negatives in sign languages.

Negatives in sign languages typically have a non-manual component for the negative, commonly a head shake (hs), that is co-articulated with a manual sign.

	hs
PAOLO CONTRACT SIGN	NON

"Paolo didn't sign the contract"

LIS, Quer 2012.

In some sign languages, the non-manual can span across the negated verb or even the entire phrase being negated.

	hs
MOTHER FLOWER	BUY NOT

"Mother does not buy a flower"

DGS, Quer 2012.

	hs
SANTI	MEAT EAT NOT

"Santi doesn't eat meat"

LSC, Quer 2012.

In some sign languages, the manual sign is required, but is optional in others.

Manual negative signs

Negative particles

Uninflected negative particles are the most common negative marker in sign languages for sentential negation.

A palm-out, finger wagging motion hamfinger2,hampalmd,hamneutralspace,hamswinging is a common negative particle cross-linguistically.

References

Quer et al. 2017: SignGram Blueprint: A Guide to Sign Language Grammar Writing