Processing of sentences with predicate negation: The role of opposite predicates

In this paper we discuss the two-step simulation hypothesis of negation processing proposed by Kaup et al. [3,4] with regard to negating two sorts of predicates: those with clear opposites (“long” vs “short”, “closed” vs “open”) and those without clear opposites (“red”, “triangle”). The hypothesis by Kaup et alia predicts that negation is integrated into sentence meaning on the later stage of sentence processing, which involves that a comprehender of the sentence simulates the corresponding actual state of affairs. We suggest that, given the hypothesis is true, in the case of those predicates for which one can find in the language clear opposites, such a simulation is facilitated via identifying the negative of a given predicate with its opposite. In the case of predicates such as “red”, that lack of a clear opposite should make processing of the negative sentence more effortful.