Shades of meaning with nicht-negation in Deutsch ?
I have this sentence,

Die Studenten sitzen im Lesesaal.
(The students sit in the reading area.)

I'm trying to apply the rules for nicht-negation. I believe the relevant rules are:
1. When a verb is being negated, the nicht follows after the conjugated verb.
2. When an adverbial describing place (or time) is being negated, the nicht follows after the adverbial describing place (or time).

So if I am negating the verb, I get

Die Studenten sitzen NICHT im Lesesaal.
(The students are not sitting (verb negated), although the students are in the reading area. (that they are in the reading area, remains a positive statement).)

If I instead negate the place.

Die Studenten sitzen im Lesesaal NICHT.
(The students are sitting, but wherever they may sit, it's not in the reading area.)

Are these correct meanings for these negations? (I've added words to the translation, since I need more words in English to clarify the meaning I'm thinking of.)

Subtle yet profound? or over-analysed?

Question

Shades of meaning with nicht-negation in Deutsch ?
I have this sentence,

Die Studenten sitzen im Lesesaal.
(The students sit in the reading area.)

I'm trying to apply the rules for nicht-negation.  I believe the relevant rules are:
1. When a verb is being negated, the nicht follows after the conjugated verb.
2. When an adverbial describing place (or time) is being negated, the nicht follows after the adverbial describing place (or time).

So if I am negating the verb, I get

Die Studenten sitzen NICHT im Lesesaal.
(The students are not sitting (verb negated), although the students are in the reading area. (that they are in the reading area, remains a positive statement).)

If I instead negate the place.

Die Studenten sitzen im Lesesaal NICHT.
(The students are sitting, but wherever they may sit, it's not in the reading area.)

Are these correct meanings for these negations?  (I've added words to the translation, since I need more words in English to clarify the meaning I'm thinking of.)

Subtle yet profound?  or over-analysed?

Answer

Sorry!
Die Studenten sitzen nicht im Lesebereich. (most frequent word order), IMO this is the word order that corresponds most to "The students aren't sitting in the reading area" -> They MIGHT be sitting somewhere else instead (same as in English, you could give that sentence all of the meanings mentioned below just by using intonation).
Die Studenten sitzen im Lesebereich nicht. -> Either: the students are not there although I'd definitely expected them to be there OR They're standing, lying down or floating, but not sitting (depending on context and on intonation).
Nicht die Studenten sitzen im Lesebereich. -> It's not the students who are sitting in the r.a.
Nicht im Lesebereich sitzen die Studenten. -> It's not the r.a. where they are sitting, but definitely somewhere else.

Answer

Hello,
For both meanings (nicht sitzen, nicht im Lesesaal) you need to say: Die Studenten sitzen nicht im Lesesaal. 
With a normal intonation, it means, they sit somewhere else. When you emphasize the word sit, then they might be standing. 
The negation here can't be at the end of the sentence because there is a local attribute.

Answers · 2

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