Karakulova Ulbosyn Erzhanovna
K.A.Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University,
Senior teacher of the English Philology Department South Kazakhstan,
Turkistan, 7718289710, ukarakulova@bk.ru
THE STRUCTURAL PECULARITIES OF NEGATIVE SENTENCES
IN ENGLISH АND KAZAKH
Summary. This article deals with the structural peculiarities of negative sentences in two languages: English and Kazakh.
Түйін. Бұл мақалада екі тілдегі: қазақ және ағылшын тілдеріндегі болымсыз сөйлемдердің құрылымдық ерек-
шеліктері қарастырылады.
Резюме. В этой статье рассматриваются структурные особенности отрицательных предложении на англий-
ском и казахском языках.
While studying English, learners may experience
differences in the ways of expressing ideas between
the two languages. One of the most difficult aspects
they may encounter is how to use negatives correctly.
Sometimes learners make up sentences like what
they always do in their mother tongue; that’s way,
they obviously make mistakes. Besides, sometimes
negative sentences are use not for the purpose of
negating but for a variety of purposes which may
really challenge learners. There are still more cases
which Kazakh learners may confuse in using English
negatives. To help learners avoid these confusions,
this study is carried on.
According to Longman dictionaries of
language teaching and applied linguistics, negation
is contradicting the meaning or part of the meaning
of a sentence. Jefferson states that the chief use of a
negative sentence being to contradict and to point a
contrast. According to Amanjolov a negative sentence
is a linguistic means used to express negation, a basic
category of human thinking, which is naturally studied
in logic and philosophy [1]. According to Kazakh
Wikipedia a negative sentence does the opposite of
a positive sentence [2]. According to A.N. Kononov
meaning of negation we can found from structure of
predicate.
According to A. Downing Negative sentence can
be: Complete negative: when the verb is made negative
by using not when there is an auxiliary verb.
She is not teacher.
They have not arrived.
Partial negative: When the verb is not the one that
carries the negative element.
-by using a negative adjective (no, little, few) For
example: She has little money
-by using a negative adverb (no, rarely, seldom,
never, nowhere, barely, hardly, scarcely) She rarely
speaks in class by using a negative pronoun (none,
nobody, no one, nothing) .No one came to the party
without a present.
The linguist D. Biber refers to two types of
negation: synthetic ('no', 'neither' or 'nor' negation)
and analytic ('not' negation)[3].
For example: He is neither here nor there. He is
not here.
Synthetic tending to use inflections rather than
word order to express grammatical structure. Analytic
tending to use word order to express grammatical
structure.
Inflection a change in the form of a word order
(typically the ending) to express a grammatical
function or attribute.
According to Balakaev there are two approaches
to make negative predicate in Kazakh: (Морфологи-
ялық амал; Синтаксистік амал)
Morphological approach(амал):
-ма, -ме, -ба, -бе, -па, -пе
For example: келмеген, алмаған тәрізді
Syntactical approach: емес, жоқ (көмекші
сөздер)
For example: алған жоқ, алған емес [4].
Morphological and syntactic approaches are used
to form this predicate. By morphological approach
we mean negative form of the verb –ма and syntactic
approaches we understand presence of auxiliary words
емес, жоқ.
According to Downing and Philip Lock, there are
two types of negative words: nuclear negative words
and semi-negative words. Nuclear negative words are
explicitly negative words. Nobody, nowhere, nothing
(ешкім, ешқайда, ештеңе). Semi-negative words are
such words that are not negative in appearance but in
meaning. For example: Hardly, rarely, barely (әрең,
сирек) [5].
In clauses, negation is usually made with the
particle not, by negating the finite operator (is not,
cannot/isn’t, can’t, etc.), or a non-finite verb in a
dependent clause (not wishing to disturb them).
*Amn’t is not used in Standard English for the first
person singular; instead I’m not (declarative) and
Aren’t I (interrogative) are used. If no other auxiliary
is present, a form of do (do, does, did) is brought in as
operator. Compare the following positive and negative
declarative clauses:
That man is the Secretary. That man is not/isn’t
the Secretary.
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He took the car. He didn’t take the car.
Ed always does the dishes. Ed doesn’t always do
the dishes.
The last example here illustrates the use of does
both as a lexical verb and as operator.
Don’t is the regular negative form used in second
person imperatives: Don’t be late!
Another way of negating a clause is by using a
non-verbal ‘nuclear’ negative word such as nobody,
nothing, no or never. When we need a negative element
as subject, a nuclear form is necessary: Nobody came
after all, Nothing was said, No money was found.
Nuclear negative words are also common in existential
clauses: There’s nothing to worry about.
In many cases a similar idea can be expressed by
using either no-negation or not negation+ any:
Are not I
Am I not
According to Downing it is grammatically wrong
to use am not I. Instead of it we must use Are not I.
But According to Jacob Marian we use are not I
in spoken and informal written language. And we must
use Am I not in a fairly formal context
For example:
I am new here, aren’t I? (correct in spoken and
informal written language)
I am new here, am I not? (correct, but only in a
fairly formal context)
I am new here, amn’t I? (incorrect, unless you
speak a certain dialect)
Structure of negative sentence
Predicate negation.The particle not is the most
frequently used grammatical form of negation in
the English Language, however, there are other
grammatical and lexical means
Subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb +
object
Although there is no auxiliary verbs in Kazakh, to
make negative sentence in Kazakh we use suffixes as:
-ма, -ме, -ба, -бе, -па, -пе.
Subject + Object+(A, Ad) + Predicate+(-ма,
-ме….)
John does not smoke.
Джон шылым шекпейді.
The negative pronouns (nobody, nothing, no one,
neither of, none, no) adverbs never and nowhere.
The negative pronouns in Kazakh: еш, еш-
кім, ешбір, ештеме, дәнеңе, ешқашан, ешқандай,
ешқайсы.
Nobody could answer that question - Бұл сұраққа
ешкім жауап бере алмады.
Negative prefixes in-, im-, un-, dis-; suffix less
Negative suffixes: сыз,-сіз,
He dislikes watching movies- Ол кино көргенді
ұнатпайды.
He is jobless at the moment-Ол қазір жұмыссыз.
The structure of negative questions : Auxiliary
+not + subject + predicate
Doesn’t he understand?
Ол түсінбеді ме? (we add сұраулық демеулік-
тер -ме)
Wh-question-Why did not you wait for the police?
Сіз неге полицияны күтпедіңіз?
Tag questions-She understand, does not she?
Ол түсінді ме, түсінбеді ме?
He is late, is not he?-Ол кешікті, солай емес пе?
Double negative
There is great difference between Kazakh and
English negative sentences. Whereas in English
predicate of a sentence can have only one negation, in
Kazakh it can have more than one.
He does not go anywhere- Ол ешқайда бар-
майды.
He never goes anywhere- Ол ешқашан ешқайда
бармайды.
In English, a double negative is the nonstandard
usage of two negatives used in the same sentence so
that they cancel each other and create a positive. As
for in Kazakh, double negative is used widely and
conveys both positive meaning and negative meaning.
"I do not disagree" could mean "I certainly agree“
The phrase "Mr. Jones was not incompetent."
will seldom mean "Mr. Jones was very competent“
Positive meaning: Таң қалдыратын жайттар
жоқ емес.
Negative meaning: Ол бүгін ешкіммен кезде-
спейді.
Negation: emphasizing
When we want to emphasize something negative,
we often use at all. We normally use at all immediately
after the word or phrase we are emphasizing:
There’s nothing at all left in the fridge.
Тоңазытқышта ештеңе жоқ.
We use ған;-ген; (есімше) + емес for
emphasizing.
Емхананы осы жасқа келгелі көрген емеспін,
естіген де емеспін
Negative inversion
Inversion is required in negative sentences
beginning with the following negative adverbs and
adverbial phrases:
never; never before; rarely; seldom; hardly;
scarcely; little; only when; only after; only then.
In Kazakh we never put negative adverbs and
adverbial phrases before the subject. It is grammatically
wrong. Because of it we don’t have negative inversion
in Kazakh.
For example:
Never before have I seen such beauty.
I have never before seen such beauty.
Мен мұндай сұлулықты бұрын ешқашан көр-
мегенмін.
Rarely have I seen such a magnificent view.
I have rarely seen such a magnificent view.
Мен мұндай тамаша көріністі сирек көрген-
мін.
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Standard word order in English declarative
sentences is first the subject, then the verb. Changing
standard word order is called "inversion".A negation
(e.g. not, no, never, nothing, etc.) or a word that implies
negation (only, hardly, scarcely) or a phrase containing
one of these words precedes the finite auxiliary verb
necessitating that the subject and finite verb undergo
inversion. Inversion is required in negative sentences
beginning with the following negative adverbs and
adverbial phrases: never; never before; rarely; seldom;
hardly; scarcely; little; only when; only after; only then.
Inverted negative constructions are used for emphasis,
mostly in formal writing and in literary works.
Negative inversion is explored directly by, for
instance, Rudanko (1982), Haegemann (2000), Kato
(2000), Sobin (2003), Büring (2004).
We came to the conclusion that both English and
Kazakh negative sentences are used for some certain
communication functions, such as description, denial
rejection, asking or confirming information, making
affirmatives statements or giving directives. And also
in both languages negative predicate is used more than
others. When negative adverbs are put at the beginning,
inversion often occurs in English, which never
appears in Kazakh. Both English and Kazakh negative
sentences have the type of double negative. However,
the use of two negations in English cannot be in the
same constituents. If so, the sentence is considered
grammatically wrong. In Kazakh, the appearance of
double negative both in the different and in the same
constituents is normal.
References:
1. Аmanzholov S. Kazakh tili teoriasynyng negizderi. «Gylym» baspasy. Аlmaty-2002.
2. Kazakh Wikipedia
3. Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, Randi Reppen, "Corpus Linguistics: Investigating Language Structure and Use". 1998.
4. BalakayevМ., Kordabayev Т., Kazirgi Kazakh tili grammatikasy. Sintaksis. A., 1961;
5. Angela Downing and Philip Locke. English Grammar A University Course Second edition published 2006 by Rout
ledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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Kasymbekova Aliya Korganbaevna
Senior teacher of the International Kazakh-Turkish University after H.A. Yasavi,
Turkestan, 8705-980-58-03, alya_mktu@mail.ru
NATIONAL - CULTURAL COMPONENT IN IDIOMS
Summary: The ethno-cultural characteristics of English idioms and aspects of nation’s cultural elements are analyzed in
the article being that they are of great importance in a language.
Түйін: Бұл мақалада ағылшын тіліндегі идиомалардың этномәдени ерекшеліктері және тілдегі ұлттық мәдени
элементтерінің аспектері қарастырылады.
Резюме: Этнокультурные особенности английских идиом и аспекты культурных элементов анализируются в
этой статье, так как они имеют большое значение в языке.
A nation’s cultural features and its national
psychology, aesthetic perspectives and values are
certainly reflected in its language. The national
cultural features of a language refer to not only the
connotations of ‘culture’ but also the extension of the
concept of ‘culture’-the nation’s history, geographical
conditions, economy, social system, religion and
customs reflected and recorded in its language”
.Therefore, a nation’s cultural elements can be
definitely found in idioms since idioms are of great
importance in a language. The following aspects are
some of the cultural peculiarities of English idioms:
Geographical
environment,
geographical
conditions play an important role in shaping one
nation’s culture and human beings have no choices
to change the geographical conditions. Geographic
characteristics not only influence the material life of a
nation but also the culture and language. Britain is an
island country located in west Europe, which does not
share land border with any other countries except the
Republic of Ireland, with Atlantic Ocean to the west
and north, the English Channel to the south and the
North Sea to the east. The special location of Britain
poses a great impact on the formation of idioms, which
the ones relating to navigation and fishing account for
a large proportion.
e.g. (1) tower one’s sail: be willing to be
inferior to
(2) plain sailing: a course of action that is free
from difficulties
(3) a big fish: an important and influential person
(4) a fresh fish: a new prisoner
English people often say “spring up like
mushrooms” to express the meaning (spring up like
mushrooms shoot after a spring rain). The reason is
British people are much familiar with mushroom. And
that is because it often rains in England and the wet
condition is suitable for the growth of mushrooms.
It is easy to find the influence of geographic
conditions in language, which reflects on the
pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and so on. It
has all important function on playing up the nation’s
language and culture when we want to translate the
sense of reality in those geographic characteristics.
One nation’s custom is formed through a long
history and firmly rooted in people’s mind. In different
countries and nations customs drastically differ in
various aspects. Due to that, a lot of idioms turn out
with varied dresses. Certain general knowledge of the
customs of the original culture will be good for our
translation undertaking.
Take food habit for example, cake has been a
common food in English for a long history, so it is
understandable that they use “a piece of cake” denoting
an easy-done task. Another example is related to the
habitual way of working in the field. English people
were habituated to use a horse to plough the field before
modernized agriculture was developed. Consequently,
English say to describe someone with great strength
“as strong as a horse” [1, p.94].
Due to different living customs, different nations
have distinctive cultural differences in the concept of
value and aesthetic criteria. For instance, in English
culture the word “old” means the end of youth, the
decline of vigor. Therefore, most of them mentally
resist the idea of becoming old and try to remain
young. And the idiomatic expression such as “you
don’t look your age” is welcomed in western society.
In some eastern countries dragon (imagined
animal) is admired and worshipped very much, and
it is even the symbol of the nation. While in English,
though it can bring the association of “strength” and
“power”, dragon gives such derogatory associations as
evil, Satan, devil and disgusting woman. Obviously,
we come to the conclusion that different cultures
express differently their likings and dislikings.
Another example is the lion. To most westerners,
lion is “the king of the beats”. Collins COBUILD
English Language Dictionary defines “lion” as “a
person or a country that is considered to be strong
and peaceful, and which other people respect or fear”.
The lion enjoys high prestige, as can be seen from
such expressions as “regal as a lion, majestic as a
lion-King Richard, king of England in the late 12m
century, was known as lion-hearted for his courage
and chivalry That’s why English have chosen the
lion as their symbol, “The living custom is the way
of life for people living in a special region, including
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a variety of things that related to all aspects of social
life. It is restricted to the nation’s politics, economy,
religion, literature and arts and which in rum affect
it. Language, as a special part of the nation’s culture,
definitely reflects the living customs of the nation, and
idioms are even greatly related to the living customs ”
[2, p.18].
Religions. “Religion is all important part of
culture and has greatly influenced all the human
languages and imposed great impact on all aspect of
our society. ”Numerous idioms were generated from
the fountain of religion. Religion has greatly influenced
idioms and become a rich source for the generation
of idioms. Some differences of idioms can be traced
back to the origin of religion. They are represented by
their different scriptures, and follow a certain kind of
doctrine and thinking pattern. The following part is to
explain the influence of religions on idioms. The origin
of religion can be traced to primitive society. It was a
kind of super-nature power that people believed in. As
time flied, religions such as Christianity, Buddhism,
Taoism and Islam came into being. A religion together
with its own doctrine stands for a culture. Different
people have different religious beliefs. Most western
people believe in God. The main cultural factors in the
English belong to the Christian culture.
The Bible has greatly influenced the establishment
and development of western civilization. Religion has
played an important role in western society especially
before capitalization. The majority of the western
people believe in Christianity and regard the Bible as
one of the most important classical works in their life.
Countless idioms are originated from the Bible, for
example, “to put new wine in old bottles” referring to
the unwise act of forcing the extremely conservative
person to accept new conceptions; “to make one’s hair
stand on end” describing thrilling horror caused by
something, etc.
History. History is the intellectual form in which
a civilization renders account of itself about its past.
It is the continuum of events occurring in succession
leading from the past to the present and even into the
future. History of a country may last for thousands of
years. Even a native do not know all the past events of
their nation, not to mention the foreigners.
History plays an indispensable role in the
development of a country. It also promotes the
evolution of a language and affects its idioms. Idioms
from history culture are the gems of human cultural
heritage Translators should have extensive knowledge
of history to fulfill the obligation of translation as a
cross-cultural communication. History culture mainly
include allusion, poems, myths, ancient books and
records, etc.
There is an English idiom: “Greek gift” is related
to the ancient myth of Roman “Annelid”. People are
the host and creator of human history. Events about
heroes in history are often orally passed down from
generation to generation. In the following idioms, it is
evident that historical figures contribute much to their
distinctive national features [3, p.81].
Idioms make our speech more expressive, vivid,
and imaginative. Having a rich vocabulary of idioms,
you can not only understand shades of meaning,
stylistics, emotion, but you also will enrich your
speech, made it more natural, that, of course, will
make your intercourse easier with foreign colleagues
and friends.
Literature:
1. Noel, John C. Comparison of some idioms in English.- 1975.-p.94
2. Fernando, Ch.Flavell, R. On Idiom: Critical Views And Perspectives.- (Exeter Linguistic Studies, 5). Exeter: University
of Exeter, 1981.-p. 18
3. Fry, V. A Juxtaposition of Two Abductions for Studying Communication and Culture.- American Journal of Semiotics
5, 1987.- p. 81.
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