Variability of the means of negation expression (based on the material of German adjectives)

Abstract

The expression of the category of negation in the system of the German adjective has not yet received a sufficiently complete description, although many researchers have repeatedly addressed this issue. One of the unsolved problems remains the problem of the speaker’s choice of a linguistic means of negation. The aim of the study is to identify the reasons for the variation of the means of negation in the class of German adjectives. The subject of consideration is represented by the ways that the negative meaning of adjectives is expressed. The main provisions concerning the essence and specifics of how the stems of adjectives are combined with negative affixes are touched upon. The variety of negative characteristics is seen as a peculiarity of the adjective from the perspective of the expression of a negative property or the absence of something. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the variability of the means of negative expression by adjectives is considered as an object of a synchronous structural analysis of linguistic units and is investigated taking into account the following linguistic levels: word-formation, structural-typological, syntactic and semantic. As a result of the study, it has been found that, in general, only a small number of factors are crucial when choosing a certain negation variant. In most cases, the prefix ‘un-’ is used to negate adjectives, regardless of the factors considered.