1.5.1.1.1. Negative particles
Uninflected sentential negative particles in DGS are: not, no, no-no, none, without, zero, empty, and nothing-at-all These are typically used sentence finally and negate a sentence in combination with a non-manual headshake [Syntax 1.5.1.2.3].
a. not (nicht)
hs
b. yesterday m-a-x come not
‘Yesterday Max didn’t come.’
c. no (nein)
hs
d. no, ix1 coffee drink
‘No, I don’t drink coffee.’
e. no-no (nein nein)
eg hs
f. poss1 colleague all be_present workshop. ix1 no-no.
‘All of my colleagues were present for a workshop. I was not.’
g. none (kein)
h. appointment free none
‘Today is free, no appointments.’
(based https://www.spreadthesign.com)
i. without (ohne)
j. t-i-m siblings without
‘Tim hasn’t any siblings.’
k. zero (null)
l. exam read zero
‘I didn’t read anything for the exam.’
m. empty (leer)
n. water surf empty
‘In the water, there are no surfers.’
In DGS, there are some negative particles that include a non-manual emphatic meaning, such as nothing_at_all, in this case with a specific ‘blowing mouth gesture’. It is shown in the example (a) below. The same sign can be used to emphasize absence of objects (b) as well as people (c).
a. nothing_at_all
b. ix1 class inside nothing_at_all
‘I go inside the class but there is nothing at all.’
c. film watch no_one_at_all
‘No one at all watched the film.’
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.