Syntax And Semantics Of Negation In Akan

This thesis explores the concept of negation in Akan, a Kwa language. It focuses on how negation is marked in Akan and on negative polarity items. Negation in Akan is marked by a homorganic nasal. This marker is prefixed to the verb stem. Adopting the X-Bar theory in the analysis of data on negation, the study discusses the types and scope of negation. Negation projects a negative phrase (NegP) following Saah’s (1995) account. There are two categorizations of negation types— syntactic and semantic. Based on the syntactic categorization, the types of negation identified are sentential and constituent. Explicit and implicit negation are the types identified based on the semantic categorization. Negation takes scope over the VP in an Akan sentence since it c-commands VP. Therefore, objects are also under the scope of negation.