Slavomír Čéplö and Christopher Lucas Lanqas, negative concord and predicate negation in Maltese Abstract: This paper examines the interaction of the focus particle lanqas with predicate negation. Using corpus data, we provide a classification of syntactic constructions where such interaction occurs, based on whether lanqas serves as the sole negator, appears alongside the standard negative circumfix ma + -x or co-occurs with the negator la. We analyze and describe the patterns of use for each construction type, also noting the factors influencing the selection and its relationship to other syntactic phenomena, such as dislocation and verbal chains, and especially their effect on negative concord. Keywords: Maltese, syntax, negation, focus 1 Introduction In his analysis of focus particles in Maltese, Čéplö (2017) briefly discussed the peculiar syntactic behavior of one of those particles, lanqas ‘not even’. In addi- tion to its role as a scalar exclusive focus particle, lanqas is also involved in negation in three major ways. First, when occurring in a clause with a predicate negated by the standard means (either using the circumfix ma + -x or the negated personal pronoun; see Section 3.1 for details), it behaves like a negative indefinite and thus triggers x- dropping (1) (Lucas 2014) in the same way as standard negative indefinites like ħadd ‘no one’ or xejn ‘nothing’ (2). (1) U lanqas jiena ma staj=t=ø no=rqod. and not even I NEG can=1SG.PERF=ø 1.IMPF=sleep ‘And not even I could sleep.’ [BCv3: 2010 John Bonello – It-Tielet Qamar]  Slavomír Čéplö: ÖAW IMAFO-BYZ, Hollandstrasse 11–13, Wien 1020, Austria/Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia E-mail: bulbul@bulbul.sk. Christopher Lucas: SOAS University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom. E-mail: cl39@soas.ac.uk.