The present volume is a most welcome contribution to the investigation of negation in African languages of non-Bantu language groups. It aims at filling a gap in the study of African languages, since – as several of the authors state - negation has so far only been given little attention: "the structural and conceptual function of negation was often given little consideration in the grammatical description of African languages, though in many African languages we are confronted with a remarkable complexity of negation patterns" (Cyffer, p.72). Negation is a highly complex matter and interacts with other grammatical categories. Thus, it has to be analyzed from different perspectives:

"The study of […] negation patterns is […] more than a mere description of expressing 'no' or 'not' in the language. Negation structures uncover other patterns of language structure, especially with regard to the evolution of grammatical categories. Genetic, universal and areal impacts may come in to explain negation in the present language." (Cyffer, p.72)