Jespersen's cycle

[[French language|French]] is well known to use a bipartite negative, e.g. {{lang|fr|Je '''ne''' sais '''pas'''}}: "I don't know", {{literally|I not know not}}. (The second negative element originally had a semantic connection with the verb: {{lang|fr|Je ne marche pas}} originally meant "I don't walk [a] step".) [[Welsh language|Welsh]] has a very similar pattern, {{lang|cy|'''Ni''' wn i '''ddim'''}}, {{literally|Not know I nothing}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Borsley |first1=Robert D. |last2=Tallerman |first2=Maggie |last3=Willis |first3=David |author-link1=Robert D. Borsley |author-link2=Maggie Tallerman |author-link3=David Willis (linguist) |date=18 Oct 2007 |title=The Syntax of Welsh |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=311 |isbn=9781139467513}}</ref> In both languages, the colloquial [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]] is at a more advanced stage in the cycle, and the first part ({{lang|fr|ne}} or {{lang|cy|ni(d)}}) is very frequently omitted. In formal Welsh registers, by contrast, {{lang|cy|ni(d)}} tends to be used without {{lang|cy|ddim}}. This is not true of formal registers of modern French, but the use of {{lang|fr|ne}} on its own survives in certain set expressions (e.g. {{lang|fr|n'importe quoi}} 'no matter what/anything') and with certain verbs (e.g. {{lang|fr|Elle ne cesse de parler}} 'She doesn't stop talking').

[[French language|French]] is well known to use a bipartite negative, e.g. {{lang|fr|Je '''ne''' sais '''pas'''}}: "I don't know", {{literally|I not know not}}. (The second negative element originally had a semantic connection with the verb: {{lang|fr|Je ne marche pas}} originally meant "I don't walk [a] step".) [[Welsh language|Welsh]] has a very similar pattern, {{lang|cy|'''Ni''' wn i '''ddim'''}}, {{literally|Not know I nothing}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Borsley |first1=Robert D. |last2=Tallerman |first2=Maggie |last3=Willis |first3=David |author-link1=Robert D. Borsley |author-link2=Maggie Tallerman |author-link3=David Willis (linguist) |date=18 Oct 2007 |title=The Syntax of Welsh |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=311 |isbn=9781139467513}}</ref> In both languages, the colloquial [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]] is at a more advanced stage in the cycle, and the first part ({{lang|fr|ne}} or {{lang|cy|ni(d)}}) is very frequently omitted. In formal Welsh registers, by contrast, {{lang|cy|ni(d)}} tends to be used without {{lang|cy|ddim}}. This is not true of formal registers of modern French, but the use of {{lang|fr|ne}} on its own survives in certain set expressions (e.g. {{lang|fr|n'importe quoi}} 'no matter what/anything') and with certain verbs (e.g. {{lang|fr|Elle ne cesse de parler}} 'She doesn't stop talking').

Spoken [[Brazilian Portuguese]] is also in differing stages of Jespersen's Cycle, depending on register and [[dialect]]. The original way to form a negative, as in most Romance languages, was the negative adverb ''[[wiktionary:não|não]],'' as in ''Maria '''não''' viu o acidente'' "Maria did not see the accident". This pre-verbal ''não'' is usually pronounced in a reduced form, which led to another ''não'' being used where negative adverbs usually go: ''Maria '''não''' viu o acidente '''não'''''. These days, sentences without the initial reduced ''não'' can be encountered in colloquial varieties: ''Maria viu o acidente '''não'''''.<ref>[https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/cs/article/download/7589/6274/13170 Junior (2015)]</ref>

Spoken [[Brazilian Portuguese]] is also in differing stages of Jespersen's Cycle, depending on register and [[dialect]]. The original way to form a negative, as in most Romance languages, was the negative adverb ''[[wiktionary:não|não]],'' as in ''Maria '''não''' viu o acidente'' "Maria did not see the accident". This pre-verbal ''não'' is usually pronounced in a reduced form, which led to another ''não'' being used where negative adverbs usually go: ''Maria '''não''' viu o acidente '''não'''''. These days, sentences without the initial reduced ''não'' can be encountered in colloquial varieties: ''Maria viu o acidente '''não'''''.<ref>{{Cite journal | first=Moacir Natercio | last=Ferreira Junior | title=Ciclo dos marcadores negativos no PB | journal=Caderno de Squibs: Temas em estudos formais da linguagem | volume=1 | number=1 | year=2015 | pages=17–24 | url=https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/cs/article/download/7589/6274/13170 | via=University of Brasília | issn=2447-1372 | language=pt-BR}}</ref>

English too passed through Jespersen's cycle early in its history: for example "I didn't see" would be expressed in [[Old English]] as {{lang|ang|ic ne geseah}}; then strengthened with the word {{lang|enm|nauȝt}} (from [[Old English]] ''{{linktext|nawiht}}'' 'no thing') as [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|I ne ysauȝ nauȝt}}; then leading to [[Early Modern English]] ''I saw not''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tottie |first1=Gunnel |editor1-last=Kastovsky |editor1-first=Dieter |title=Historical English Syntax |date=1991 |publisher=[[De Gruyter Mouton]] |isbn=9783110124316 |page=452 |chapter=Lexical diffusion in syntactic change: Frequency as a determinant of linguistic conservatism in the development of negation in English |doi=10.1515/9783110863314.439 |series=Topics in English Linguistics |volume=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=van Gelderen |first1=Elly |title=A history of the English language |date=2014 |publisher=[[John Benjamins]] |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789027212085 |page=130 |edition=Revised |doi=10.1075/z.183}}</ref> The same development occurred in the other Germanic languages such as German and Dutch, which produced their respective postposed negative particles {{lang|de|nicht}} and {{lang|nl|niet}}, first duplicating and eventually ousting the original preposed negative particle *''ne'' / *''ni''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jäger |first1=Agnes |title=History of German negation |date=2008 |publisher=John Benjamins |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789027255013 |doi=10.1075/la.118 |series=Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today |volume=118 |pages=104}}</ref>

English too passed through Jespersen's cycle early in its history: for example "I didn't see" would be expressed in [[Old English]] as {{lang|ang|ic ne geseah}}; then strengthened with the word {{lang|enm|nauȝt}} (from [[Old English]] ''{{linktext|nawiht}}'' 'no thing') as [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|I ne ysauȝ nauȝt}}; then leading to [[Early Modern English]] ''I saw not''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tottie |first1=Gunnel |editor1-last=Kastovsky |editor1-first=Dieter |title=Historical English Syntax |date=1991 |publisher=[[De Gruyter Mouton]] |isbn=9783110124316 |page=452 |chapter=Lexical diffusion in syntactic change: Frequency as a determinant of linguistic conservatism in the development of negation in English |doi=10.1515/9783110863314.439 |series=Topics in English Linguistics |volume=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=van Gelderen |first1=Elly |title=A history of the English language |date=2014 |publisher=[[John Benjamins]] |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789027212085 |page=130 |edition=Revised |doi=10.1075/z.183}}</ref> The same development occurred in the other Germanic languages such as German and Dutch, which produced their respective postposed negative particles {{lang|de|nicht}} and {{lang|nl|niet}}, first duplicating and eventually ousting the original preposed negative particle *''ne'' / *''ni''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jäger |first1=Agnes |title=History of German negation |date=2008 |publisher=John Benjamins |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789027255013 |doi=10.1075/la.118 |series=Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today |volume=118 |pages=104}}</ref>