THE USE OF NEGATIVE CONCORD IN ENGLISH AND LINGALA: A MORPHO-SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

Author: Degaule Itolome Lingonde

ABSTRACT

The present research paper endeavors to compare English and Lingala as far as the use of negative concord is concerned with regard to Morphology and Semantics. After the description on the use of negative concord in both languages, it has been found that the two languages are similar at the morphological level since they use two or more negative forms in the same sentence to express a single semantic negation. The disparities have occurred at the semantic level, where referring to negative concord in Standard English to render a single semantic negation is considered ungrammatical and a double negation reading is attributed to it, i.e., a positive meaning. In contrast, the use of negative concord in the Lingala language is allowable since it is used to express the negation. The study has revealed that the two languages coincide at morphological level since in both languages two negative elements are used in the same sentence and also negative concord is used to express the emphasis in English as well as in Lingala.

Keywords: Morphology- Semantics- Comparison- Usage- Negative Concord.

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