negators

Negators are linguistic elements that express negation, signaling that a statement is false, denied, or restricted. They function as operators that invert the truth-conditions of a proposition. Negation can be realized by words, affixes, clitics, or combinations of these, and its exact form varies across languages and constructions.

Common types of negators include negative particles (for example, not in English, no in determiner position), negative prefixes or affixes (un-, in-, non- in various languages), and negative adverbs or pronouns (never, nobody, nothing). In many languages, a single grammatical unit suffices to negate a sentence, while others use multiple elements in a system of negative words (negative concord) or employ separate devices for emphasis or scope.

In syntax and semantics, negators create a negation operator whose scope interacts with other operators such as modality, tense, or polarity items. English typically places a particle like not before the main verb or after an auxiliary (I do not agree). Some languages position negation before the verb, after the verb, or even rely on affixal negation on the verb stem. Double negation may be used for emphasis or required by grammar, and in some languages it preserves a negative meaning (negative concord), while in others it yields a positive interpretation.

Negators are central to studies of polarity, scope, and cross-linguistic variation in negation strategies. They are distinguished from other means of denial or restriction, such as modal negation or interrogative negation, by their primary role in forming the negated proposition.