A02

Project Overview

This project examines how negation functions in complex German adjectives. We focus on adjectives like unaufhörlich ‘incessant’, unglaublich ‘unbelievable’, and unvergesslich ‘unforgettable’, which seem semantically transparent, but whose positive bases (a) do not exist, (b) are rare, or (c) have different meanings. We term these BNDAs: Baseless Negative Derived Adjectives. Thus, this project provides a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between morphological structure and semantic licensing across different languages and historical periods.

Research Questions & Theoretical Framework

This project: (1) compiles an exhaustive list of BNDAs and their licensing conditions, (2) traces their development from Old High German to Present-Day German using corpus data, and (3) proposes a formal semantic account. The project argues that the absence or rarity of positive bases and their meaning shifts are systematic, contrary to standard assumptions. Positive bases of BNDAs, the research claims, typically require negation (or a degree modifier such as kaum unglaublich ‘hardly believable’) to be licensed, making them similar in some respects to NPIs (a, b). In other cases (c), operations such as passivation may enable word-internal negation.

Methodologies & Data

By revealing mechanisms of sub-word diachronic change, this research clarifies how negation interacts with other meaning components and lays the groundwork for cross-linguistic comparison. Russian appears to allow un- formation more freely with negative adjectival roots, and English permits un- formation from verbal roots. Similar patterns in other languages suggest that BNDAs may constitute a universal phenomenon.