In the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) the study examines the distribution of so-called negation carriers such as pas, personne, jamais etc., the well-formedness conditions for negative sentences (such as the appearance of ne), and the connections between the syntactic structure of negative sentences and the respective scope of the negation. The conclusion it arrives at is that negation syntax is ultimately lexically motivated and functionally defined, given that the negation carriers are distinguished from their non-negative counterparts at a functional but not at a distributional level and the well-formedness conditions are controlled by lexical characteristics.