Language Variations Expressed in English Negations andEquivalent Translations into Macedonian

This paper explores the variability of negation in English and equivalent translations into Macedonian, focusing on informal conversations recorded in Glasgow, Tyneside, and Salford. The study examines three specific variables: 1. Not-/no-negation and negative concord: o Examples: “I don’t have any money” / “I have no money” / “I don’t have no money”. 2. Non-quantificational never and didn’t: o Examples: “I never saw” / “I didn’t see that program last night”. 3. Negative tags: o Examples: “It’s a nice day, isn’t it” / “int it” / “innit?” The research bridges variations of sociolinguistics and formal linguistic theory by: • Defining linguistic variables and contexts. • Generating hypotheses to test using spoken data. • Interpreting quantitative variations analysis results with theoretical insights. Using a comparative approach, the study investigates regional differentiation in negation. The findings indicate that internal factors like verb type and lexical aspect significantly constrain all three variables with their translations into Macedonian. While the relative frequency of variants varies regionally, the underlying system remains consistent. Discourse-pragmatic factors are consistent for the not/no/concord and never/didn’t variables, but negative tags show more variability and are influenced by social and situational factors. These findings support theoretical accounts of grammatical and historical variants.