Negation in Chinese: A corpus-based study

This article explores negation in Chinese on the basis of written and spoken corpora of Mandarin Chinese. The use of corpus data not only reveals central tendencies in language based on quantitative data, it also provides typical examples attested in authentic contexts. In this study we will first discuss negation variants in general terms, on the basis of which the focus will be shifted to the semantic and genre distinctions between two major negators, bu and mei (including meiyou). Following this is an exploration of the interaction between negation and aspect marking. We will then move on to discuss scope and focus of negation, transferred negation, and finally double negation and redundant negation.