1.5.1.2.3. Negative concord
Negative concord is a phenomenon whereby two negations that occur in a sentence are interpreted as a single negation. There are two types of negative concord possible in sign languages: i) negative concord between a non-manual and a manual component and ii) negative concord between two manual components.
In LIS, only the first type of negative concord is possible, while it is not possible to find two negative manual elements. Negative non-manuals obligatory co-occur with negative manual components, as shown in the following example.
neg
gianni contract put_signature not
‘Gianni did not sign the contract.’ (adapted from Geraci, 2006b: 109)
