Three types of negation in Brazilian Portuguese

• The paper reports syntactic restrictions not observed in previous studies.
• Each type of formal negation in BP implies a different interpretation.
• There are two types of semantic negations in BP: denial of events and of propositions.
• One of the structures features all the characteristics of metalinguistic negation.

Sentential negation in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) may be accomplished through three different kinds of structures: Neg1 [Neg VP], Neg2 [Neg VP Neg] and Neg3 [VP Neg]. This distribution is quite rare in natural languages, which usually feature only one structure to express sentential negation, with an optional structure to convey a discourse function. In the linguistic literature, it is frequently claimed that the Neg1 structure is the only one devoid of syntactic restrictions. This idea has been presented as an argument for its status as the standard negation form in BP. Schwenter (2005) has explained the other two constructions in terms of information structure. However, he also recognizes some differences between the informational status of Neg2 and Neg3. In this study, I aim to describe the occurrence of these structures in BP in an attempt to formulate an analysis that considers both distributive characteristics and possible interpretations of these structures.