In this paper the syntactic properties of negation in English and Persian are compared and contrasted. It continues the debates concerning the availability of Universal Grammar (UG) to Li and L2 acquirers. We argue that a UG-based analysis for the stages of NEGplacement is not only possible but in fact provides independent support for UG-based analyses. Evidence is provided that Persian negation is just checked in NegP and there is no need for finite and non-finite verbs to move to IP. To provide the evidence, the progressive construction ‘dashtn “to have” with and without negation marker is studied. In English however finite verbs need to move to IP to get negated.
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