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In Early Modern English (EMnE) of the 16th century, Negative Concord was avoided
in the Negative Inversion construction (Jacobsson 1951), but common in uninverted negative constructions; the logically possible
combination of Negative Inversion with negative concord is not found. This study relates this observation to the structural
syntax of negation in the late Middle English period. It examines a substantial body of late 14th century prose data and shows
that the structural constraint underlying the EMnE patterns is similar in nature to the constraint on the co-occurrence of
not in Neg movement (Ingham 2000). Both sets of phenomena arise from the need for moved constituents to traverse Spec NegP.
In EMnE clause-initial negated constituents targeted Spec CP, whereas hitherto they had adjoined to IP. It is concluded that
despite considerable surface changes in the syntax of negation between these periods, later Middle English and EMnE shared
an underlying structural commonality in the role of NegP in determining the availability of multiple negated constituents
(Haegeman 1995).
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