Negationsreichweite

Negationsreichweite, often translated as negation scope, is a term in linguistics that describes the portion of a sentence whose meaning is negated by a negation element such as nicht or kein. It specifies which propositions or constituents are denied by the negation and thus contribute to the sentence’s overall truth-conditions. The scope is not determined solely by the position of the negation particle; it interacts with syntax, semantics and discourse context and can yield different readings in different contexts.

In German, the negation marker typically precedes the part of the sentence it negates, but the presence of other operators can narrow or widen the scope. For example: Ich esse den Kuchen nicht. Here the negation applies to the whole proposition, so the statement is that I do not eat the cake. Nicht jeder hat das Buch gelesen. The negation scopes over the universal quantifier, producing a reading that not all have read it. Ich habe kein Bier getrunken. The negative article targets the existential quantification over beer. In embedded clauses, as in Ich glaube, dass er nicht kommt versus Ich glaube nicht, dass er kommt, the position of nicht changes the scope relative to the clause boundary and affects interpretation.

Determining negationsreichweite relies on syntactic analysis, movement of negation, and sometimes prosodic cues in spoken language. It matters for interpretation in linguistics and for applications in natural language processing, such as sentiment analysis and machine translation, where preserving the intended negation scope is essential for accurate meaning.