The Relationship Between Negation in Thinking and Temporal and Spatial Thinking in English and Chinese: Evidences from English and Chinese Negation Words “Not/No” and “Bu/Mei”

Expressions of negation in a language, as the representations of negation in thinking, are deeply embedded in the basic ways of human thinking.The present paper examines the main negation words not/no in English and bu/mei in Chinese from a diachronic perspective.It is found that the original meanings of these negation words are all rooted in spatial thinking.However, with their evolution, the temporality in thinking has been gradually strengthened in English speakers, while the spatiality in thinking still maintains its superiority in Chinese speakers.Languages and thinking interact with each other, and evolve together by contributing to each other.With the mutual selection between negation in thinking and temporal and spatial thinking getting steady, the expressions of negation in English and Chinese also become entrenched.