Sentential and Constituent Negation in Russian BE-sentences Revisited(BHP1) *

Abstract

1 This question was first discussed by Arutjunova (1976, p.214), who observed that a yes-no locative question like Kolja v Londone? ‘Is Kolja in London?’ (our substitution for her similar example) admits two alternative forms for a negative answer, (1-NE), whose form corresponds to that of the affirmative (1), and (1-NET), whose form is like that of an existential sentence. She notes that (1-NET) is more widely used, and that it is (1-NET) which expresses general sentential negation. Our conclusions largely agree with hers. 2 The question arises for all examples with definite subject, “null copula”, and a locative or locative-possessive predicate, including also those in (i) and (ii).