Negating and affirmative expressions are interpreted as rhematizers in two cases:
negating expressions deny the validity of the content of the entire statement, or only part of it.
Negating expressions which deny the validity of the content of a statement (in its entirety or only partially), are represented as rhematizers, since the negating expression does not always apply to the whole clause including the governing predicate, and it may be the case that only part of the sentence is negated (rhematized).
NB! In such cases the syntactic negation morpheme (represented by a node with the t-lemma substitute #Neg
) is also interpreted as a rhematizer. This is a somewhat specific rhematizer, because at surface level it takes the form not of an independent lexeme, but of a morpheme attached to the verb, so that it cannot freely move in the sentence. However, the negating morpheme does not always apply to the whole clause either. Here, the scope of the rhematizer must be determined on the basis of the context.
The node representing the negating particle (ne (=no/not), nikoli/v (=no/not at all)) or the morpheme (ne- (=not; non-)) (the functor
=RHEM
) is placed in the tectogrammatical tree according to the basic rules for the location of the rhematizer (see Section 6.2, "Basic guidelines regarding the position of rhematizers in tectogrammatical trees").
Cf.:
Petr neparkoval na parkovišti. (=Peter did not park in the car-park) (Jel po silnici.) (=He was driving along the road)
The negation applies to the entire segment parkoval na parkovišti (=he parked in the car-park) including the governing predicate. The node representing the negation of the verb (t_lemma
=#Neg
) will be represented as a rhematizer, as the extreme right left direct daughter node of the node representing the governing predicate parkovat (=to park). Cf. Fig. 8.272.
Petr neparkoval na parkovišti. (=Peter did not park in the car-park) (Parkoval v garáži.) (=He parked in the garage)
The negation applies only to the place adjunct na parkovišti (=in the car-park). A node representing negation of a verb (t_lemma
=#Neg
) will be represented as the nearest left sister node of the first node representing an expression which has a negating rhematizer in its range, i.e. as the left sister node of the node for the prepositional group na parkovišti (=in the car park).
Petr parkoval ne na parkovišti. (=Peter did not park in the car park) (Parkoval v garáži.) (=(He parked in the garage))
Within the range of the negation there is only the place adjunct na parkovišti (=in the car park). The node representing the negating expression (t_lemma
=ne) will be represented as the nearest left sister node of the first node representing the expression which has a negating rhematizer within its range, i.e. as the left sister node of the node for the prepositional group na parkovišti (=in the car park).
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=Karel did not write / was not writing love letters to Klara.) (Místo toho šel ven.) (=(Instead, he went out.))
The complete segment psal milostné dopisy Kláře (=He wrote / was writing love letters to Klara), including the governing predicate is within the range of the syntactic negation. The node representing the negation of the verb (t_lemma
=#Neg
) will be represented as the extreme right left direct daughter node of the node representing the governing predicate psát (=to write). Cf. Fig. 8.273.
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=Karel did not write / was not writing love letters to Klara.) (Psal je Aleně.) (=He wrote / was writing them to Alena.)
Only the Addressee Kláře (=to Klara) is within the range of the syntactic negation (the governing predicate is not in range). The node representing negation of the verb (t_lemma
=#Neg
) will be represented as the nearest left sister node of the first node representing the expression which the negating rhematizer has in its range, i.e. as the left sister node of the node for the noun Klára (=Klara). Cf. Fig. 8.274.
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=Karel did not write / was not writing love letters to Klara.) (Psal referát do školy.) (=He was writing a report for the school.)
The complete segment milostné dopisy Kláře (=love letters to Klara) is within the range of the syntactic negation (no governing predicate is within range). The node representing negation of the verb (t_lemma
=#Neg
) will be represented as the nearest left sister node of the first node representing the expression which the negating rhematizer has within its range, i.e. as a left sister node of the node for the noun dopisy. Cf. Fig. 8.275.
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=Karel did not write / was not writing love letters to Klara.) (Jenom obchodní.) (=Only business ones.)
Only the attribute milostné (=love) is within the range of the syntactic negation (there is no governing predicate within range). The node representing negation of the verb (t_lemma
=#Neg
) will be represented as the nearest left sister node of the first node representing the expression which the negating rhematizer has within its range, i.e. as a left sister node of the node for the adjective milostné (=love). Cf. Fig. 8.276.
!!! At present the positioning of the negating rhematizer in constructions with non-finite verb forms of the type Rozhodl jsem se ten plot nepostavit (=I decided not to build that fence) is unclear.
negating or affirmative expressions (only the particle ne (=no/not), nikoli/v (=not / by no means) or ano (=yes)) represent an elided verb at surface level, expressing its positive or negative meaning.
If a negating or affirmative expression represents an elided verb in its positive or negative meaning, this expression is understood as a rhematizer which is the most dynamic expression in the given verb group (phrase); if the governing verb of the verb group is also the governing verb of the sentence (it is represented as the effective root of the tectogrammatical tree), the negating or affirmative expression is the focus proper of the sentence.
When adding a new node for an elided verb, we are in principle guided by the rules in Section 12.1.1, "Ellipsis of the governing verb"; in the case of an ellipsis which transcends a single sentence, we give precedence over copying of the node (the present ellipsis) to the addition of a node with the t-lemma substitute #EmpVerb
, which here represents the general meaning of the "validity / non-validity of the event" (grammatical ellipsis).
The node representing the particle ne (=no / not), nikoli/v (=not / by no means) or ano (=yes) (the functor
=RHEM
) has the value f
entered in the attribute tfa
and it is the extreme right direct daughter node of the inserted node for the verb.
Cf:
Petr přišel, ale Karel ne. (=Peter came, but Charles did not.)
= Petr přišel, ale Karel nepřišel. (=Peter came, but Charles did not come.)
The node representing the negating expression ne (=no / not) will be represented as a rhematizer in the focus proper, i.e. as a node lying on the extreme right-hand path in the tectogrammatical tree. Cf. Fig. 8.277.
Petr nepřišel, ale Karel ano. (=Peter did not come, but Charles did.)
= Petr nepřišel, ale Karel přišel. (=Peter did not come, but Charles came.)
The node representing the affirmative expression ano (=yes) will be represented as a rhematizer in the focus proper, i.e. as a node lying on the extreme right-hand path in the tectogrammatical tree. Cf. Fig. 8.278.
(Napsal to Jirka?) (=(Did George write it?)) Pokud ano, pošli mi to. (=If so, send it to me.)
= Pokud platí ano/ pokud se tak stalo, pošli mi to. (=If the answer is yes / if that is what happened, send it to me.)
The node representing the affirmative expression ano (=yes) will be represented as a rhematizer which will be the right-hand (extreme right-hand) direct daughter node of the inserted node for the verb. Cf. Fig. 8.279.
Further examples:
Jirka mi napsal, ale Honza { psát} ne.RHEM
(=George wrote to me, but John did not.)
Hanka nepřišla pozdě, ale Jitka { přijít (=to come / arrive)} ano.RHEM
(=Hana did not arrive late, but Jitka did.)
(Přijdeš zítra na přednášku?) (=Will you come to the lecture tomorrow?) Určitě ano.RHEM
{#EmpVerb
} (=I will, definitely.)
NB! We distinguish constituent and clause co-ordination according to the syntactical position of the negating or affirmative particle (see Section 6.1.2, "Parataxis of sentence parts, parataxis of clauses and mixed parataxis"):
Nekoupil chleba, ale máslo {koupit (=to buy)} ano.RHEM
(=He did not buy bread, but he did buy butter.)
Clause co-ordination.
Koupil chleba, ale máslo {koupit (=to buy)} ne.RHEM
(=He bought bread, but not butter.)
Clause co-ordination.
Koupil chleba, ale ne.CM
máslo. (=He bought bread, but not butter.)
Constituent co-ordination. If the negating particle follows the connective between co-ordinated modifications, the co-ordination is represented as constituent co-ordination and the negating expression as a conjunction modifier. On this, see Section 13.3, "Negating expressions as conjunction modifiers".
On the borderline between the rhematizer and the conjunction modifier in negating expressions, see Section 13.3, "Negating expressions as conjunction modifiers".
Further rules (where the value of the attribute tfa
and the position of the rhematizers in the tectogrammatical tree are involved) see Section 6, "Rhematizers".
Figure 8.272. Negating morpheme as rhematizer
Petr neparkoval na parkovišti. (=lit. Peter did_not_park in the_car_park.) (Jel po silnici.) (=He was driving on the road.).
Figure 8.273. Negating morpheme as rhematizer
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=lit. Charles did_not_write love letters to_Klara.) (Místo toho šel ven.) (=Instead, he went out.)
Figure 8.274. Negating morpheme as rhematizer
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=lit. Charles did _not_write love letters to_Klara.) (Psal je Aleně.) (=He wrote them to Alena.)
Figure 8.275. Negating morpheme as rhematizer
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=lit. Charles did_not_write love letters to_Klara.) (Psal referát do školy.) (=He wrote / was writing a report for the school.)
Figure 8.276. Negating morpheme as rhematizer
Karel nepsal milostné dopisy Kláře. (=lit. Charles did_not_write love letters to_Klara.) (Jenom obchodní.) (=Only business ones.)
Figure 8.277. Negating particle as rhematizer
Petr přišel, ale Karel ne. (=lit. Peter came, but Charles not.)